Winterspell
by Millie M. Banshee
Summary: With the threat of Voldemort returning Toshiro is sent to spend the year at Hogwarts but he's not going alone. It seems the Guardians have also caught wind of the Dark Lord and sends Jack to Hogwarts as well. The two Princes of Ice quickly form an odd friendship and work together to save the Wizarding World while staying hidden in plain sight . Even from Dumbledore? Or can they?
1. Chapter 1

Winterspell

Chapter 1

New Assignment

(A/N AAAAAGH! Not another one! Yeah, I've actually hijacked the original Winterspell and replaced with a totally different story. Yikes. So, yeah… Jack Frost and Toshiro Hitsugaya go to Hogwarts. This should be different. I hope, anyway.)

SUM: With the threat of the Dark Lord returning the Goten 13 send Hitsugaya to Hogwarts to protect the wizards. Elsewhere Jack Frost gets a similar assignment from MiM to protect the children at the school. Despite their differences in attitudes and responsibilities Jack and Toshiro form a friendship as their goals and abilities are the same. How will they take going to a wizarding school for a year? Not to mention how they handle Umbridge and her devious ways?

**SOUNDS/sounds**

_Thoughts_

_**Telepathy**_

* * *

To say Toshiro wasn't happy about his latest assignment to the living world would be a gross understatement. He was assigned his latest mission just a few months prior and now it was time to execute his assignment. Wizards. Of all the things he had to deal with. He had to deal with wizards. Wizards and witches had been known to shinigami for centuries and their history between each other was not… Well, it wasn't pretty.

Wizards live in a very narrow-minded world of their own. If it something that they don't like or don't fully understand they don't take much time in familiarizing themselves with it. In some ways they were very naive about the world outside their own. Even more so than shinigami. In some ways shinigami sort of had a right to be naïve. They didn't live on that plan of existence but what excuse did wizards have? At least shinigami would study the living as to what was new in the world and adjust things accordingly. They would even adapt some things from the living world, like cellphones for example. It was a miracle wizards even had their own version of a radio.

Toshiro was fully packed for the most part. He had to go through and do some sorting. Rangiku wanted to pick out some of his clothes. That woman had no idea that most everything she bought was not even close to his taste. He had to see Urahara before he left. He'd leave the unwanted clothing with him to give to a donation center. That way at least the clothes wouldn't go to complete waist.

Toshiro let out a sigh as he looked at the last little bit of paperwork he still had left. He walked over to his desk and picked up a pen. He signed his name in areas and filled in some other lines and check boxes. This was one thing he wasn't going to miss. He just hoped he didn't have an office full of paperwork when he got back. He'd kill his fukutaichou if he came back to such a disaster. He told Nanao to keep a fire under Rangiku's butt. Nanao can be stern and not too easily swayed. He dare not ask one of the male lieutenants. All she'd have to do is flash breasts and they'd cave in. Nanao would be perfect for this task.

He put the last of the papers in the outbox and cleaned off his desk. He turned to look at the clock on the wall. It was about time he made his way down to the senkaimon. He grabbed his two large suitcases and duffle bag of unwanted clothes. He quickly headed out of his office praying it would be intact when he got back.

When he made it down to the senkaimon he was greeted by Yamamoto-sotaichou, Matsumoto, and Kurotsuchi-taichou. Toshiro wasn't really ready head out into the wizarding world but if the intel was correct and Voldemort was back they couldn't ignore him this time.

"Hitsugaya-taichou, be careful on your trip. Wizards do not take to kindly to those messing in their affairs whether the intentions are good or not," Yamamoto said, looking at the boy captain. "Urahara will supply with a few more necessary items needed for your stay. I wish you the best of luck. Keep me well informed of your mission."

"Yes, and speaking of those supplies use them wisely and sparingly," Kurotsuchi bit out like he was talking to a disobedient child. "We can't just send you something so easily. As it is you are literally infiltrating the school so nearly all ties will be cut from us. If you need something it has to be sent to Urahara first. It was no easy task getting you into that school so don't screw it up!"

"I had no intention of doing so," Toshiro replied back in same tone of voice. "I am fully aware of what I am to do and how I am to act."

"That is still left to be determined," Kurotsuchi snorted, crossing his arms. "Should you run into any trouble you can open the gate and return here but that would also mean you failed the mission."

"That won't happen," Toshiro replied quickly, narrowing his eye aqua colored eyes.

"We'll see," Kurotsuchi muttered under his breath.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Rangiku exclaimed, running up to her captain and put him into a large bear hug. "Please do be careful. I don't know what I'd do with myself if something happened to you!"

"I-I can't breathe," Toshiro gasped, lifting his head out of her large assets. "Matsumoto, let go of me!"

"Awe but I'm going to miss you very much," she cried holding him even tighter as he struggled to get loose. "You're going to be gone for nearly a year! What am I going to do without you, taichou?"

"Your paperwork and running my squad accordingly is what you should do," Toshiro snapped, finally getting out of her grasp and fixed his clothes. "Huh… Matsumoto, you are in charge while I'm gone so that doesn't mean you can be lazy when you feel like it. Understand?"

"Yes, I understand," she moped, dropping her shoulder.

"Good. There is a whole list of things for you to do sitting in your office," Toshiro stated, picking his luggage back up and Rangiku moaned, rolling her eyes. "Oh, don't give me that. You're a grown woman."

"Define 'grown,'" Kurotsuchi mutter, quietly.

Toshiro wasn't sure if the mad doctor was just adding emphasis to what he just said or if he was also making a snide remark at him. The boy genius had a feeling he was referring to both of them. He'd let it slide as he wasn't going to be staying for much longer. Rangiku stepped back finally to let her captain pass.

"Good luck, Hitsugaya-taichou," Yamamoto added as the boy walk towards the senkaimon.

"Please write to us! I'll miss you," Rangiku waved as Toshiro vanished into the light of the senkaimon. "Oh, send me something back!"

* * *

Jack was flying up high looking around at his latest handy work. It wasn't much more than a dusting really. He thought about making a lier out of the weather but opted against it. Suddenly he saw a flash of light not too far from him. This couldn't be good. Jack was surprised to see Phil racing towards him in the middle of the night. Jack quickly flew down to meet the frantic yeti.

"Phil? What's the matter?" Jack asked, landing quietly on the snowy sidewalk as the yeti started rambling. "Whoa! Whoa! Slow it down, buddy! You're going too fast!"

Phil took a couple of deep breaths before pulling out a snow globe and shook it showing St North's workshop. Was something wrong at the pole? Phil quickly threw the globe as a portal opened up. Jack wasted no time as he quickly jumped in followed by the yeti. Fear settled in Jack's stomach.

When he arrived at the workshop he was quickly greeted by North, Toothina, and Bunny. He noticed Sandy wasn't around. This looked pretty bad. A thought suddenly hit him. Was Pitch back? If he was it couldn't be good. How did he get so strong so fast? Jack grabbed his staff hard as he closed the gap between him and the other Guardians.

"Ah, Jack, you made it," North said, stuffing cookie his mouth before offering the tray to Jack. "Cookie?"

"No, thanks," Jack said, shaking his head. "So, what's going that has Phil so worked up?"

"Nothing good, mate," Bunny replied, crossing his furry arms. "It seems the Dark Lord is back."

"What? Pitch is back?" Jack's blue eyes widened in shock.

"No, you ninny, the other one," Bunny snapped.

"There's another one?" Jack asked, now looking confused as Tooth stepped forward.

"Bunny is referring to a dark wizard named Voldemort," Tooth said, looking at the ground with saddened eyes. "Surely you must have heard of him?"

"Voldemort? Sounds familiar but it's not really ringing any bells," Jack shrugged as Bunny rolled his eyes.

"What? Are… Are ya kiddin' me, frostbite?" Bunny choked out, looking at Jack and then at the others. "How do ya don't know who Lord Voldemort is? Please tell us yer just pullin' our legs."

Jack shrugged as the others groaned. The name did sound familiar but he really couldn't place it. He had a feeling he was going to get an earful about who the Dark Lord was very soon. Jack just plopped down on the floor and waited for them explain everything to him.

"Where to begin? Lord Voldemort, well, he is not nice guy. He did many, many terrible things at the height of rein," North said, picking up another cookie. "He was a very dark wizard and he wanted to rule the wizarding world and maybe more. He killed people he did not see worthy of being a wizard. He wanted all wizards to be of pure blood, you see?"

"Okay, I'm following you so far," Jack nodded slowly.

"One night as story goes he met his match when facing Potter family," North continued, sitting on a wooden table. "In particular a one year-old Harry Potter. A curse Voldemort cast on young Harry bounced back and killed Voldemort in Harry's place. However, something has happened as of late."

"Yeah, you said he was back," Jack said, looking raising an eye brow. "If this curse killed him how did he come back? That's where you're losing me."

"It was some sort of dark magic," Tooth said, quietly. "Somehow according to MiM he had broken his own soul up so he could always come back a good number of times and he's finally cashed one in not too long ago."

"So are we going into war with this Voldemort character?" Jack asked, making his staff glow a little bit.

"Well, yes, and no," North said, rubbing some crumbs out of his beard. "I seems Manny has new quest for you."

"For… For me?" Jack said, getting to his feet, looking rather interested. "What kind of a quest?"

The 3 elder guardians looked around at each other briefly as to who would tell Jack the news. They knew Jack wouldn't like it one bit and it was clear Jack was getting anxious for their answer. Someone had to say something. So, Bunny cleared his throat.

"Tell me somethin', uh, have ya ever heard of a place called Hogwarts?" Bunny asked as Jack nodded slightly. "Do ya know what Hogwarts is?"

"Yeah, it's some sort of wizarding school," Jack stated bluntly and then something clicked. Worry suddenly took hold of Jack. "Wait a minute… No… Noooo… Not even once!"

"C'mon, Jack, it'll only be for one year and not even a full year really," Tooth said as Jack started to step back. "You're doing it for the sake of the children! You are a guardian after all."

"She's right. You did take oath," North added in. "It is sworn duty of all guardians to protect children."

"Yeah, but… Wizarding children? Worse, wizarding adults! Have you seen what these people do to other mythical creatures?" Jack stated quite clearly. "Oh, no! I'm not walking into a lion's den, thank you very much. Not only that, even I'm still invisible to them."

"Well, mate, we've actually managed to find a fix for that l'il problem," Bunny said, boldly. "Sandy's out lookin' for that someone right now."

"What? For real?" Jack asked, looking surprised. "Who are is he looking for?"

"Have ya ever heard of Holly Wenn?" Bunny asked and Jack paled.

* * *

Toshiro quickly followed Urahara and Tessai down the large busy corridor of the airport. Toshiro was not looking forward to this one bit. He was actually going to take a plane to get to England. Naturally it would be faster to just use a senkaimon but wizards might catch on to him if something like that was used. He wasn't looking forward to this. He had hardly ridden in a ground based vehicle so to ride in a plane was rather nerve wrecking.

He was also still adjusting to his new gigai. The gigai was specially made for him to tap into Hyorinmaru's powers without necessarily materializing the zanpakuto. According to Urahara it was a right expensive item and a hard one to manufacture, which was most likely what Kurotsuchi was hinting at. Toshiro could always produce ice when he released his spirit energy, however, with this new gigai his ice ability would increase dramatically. However, he could actually use Hyorinmaru whenever he left his gigai behind.

"Ah, here is your terminal," Urahara said, coming to a stop. "And not a moment too soon. Looks like the plane is already boarding. Keep your passport with you at all times. Remember to get an owl as a pet so we can trade information and don't lose your money sack."

"I won't," Toshiro said, pulling out his boarding pass. "I'll write as soon as I'm settled. School doesn't even start for another couple of weeks."

"Just be careful. Soul Society doesn't have a foothold in the wizarding world," Tessai said, looking down at the young captain. "You'll be on your own for the most part."

"Yeah, I know," Toshiro sighed, turning to look towards the gate. "Let me go. I will write back as soon as I can."

"Oh, wait!" Urahara said, pulling something from his pocket and pinned to Toshiro's shirt.

Toshiro looked down to see some paper money pinned to his shirt. It was very large amount. When he looked back up Urahara and Tessai were pretty much out his eyesight. Haha, very funny. Toshiro unpinned the large yen note and walked over to the gate holding up his boarding pass. The man looked down at it and then at Toshiro.

"You will have someone waiting for you at other airport, correct?" the man looked very serious about it.

"Yes, of course," Toshiro nodded and that wasn't a bold face lie. He really did have someone waiting for him.

The clerk took the pass to check it before handing it back to Toshiro. He was allowed in. He quickly made his way down the dock and onto the plane. He looked for his seat and found it. He took the one by the window. It was a good view of the runway. He watch as one plane started to lift up off the ground. He had to admit, it was quite amazing to see something so big actually fly.

A couple minutes later a man took the seat next to him. He looked like a well-to-do man. He was dressed in gray business suit and his black hair was slicked back. He didn't even greet Toshiro as he sat down. Toshiro just turned back around to look out the window again. If the man wasn't going to talk then he wasn't either. Toshiro just hated that he had to board another plane before making it to his destination.

It wasn't long before people were told to put up their cellphones and other devices. He buckled his seat belt as ordered. After some safety rules and other things the plane was finally ready to move from the loading dock. This was going to be interesting. Slowly the plane moved from the dock and out towards the runway. Normally something like flight wouldn't interest him but he had never been in a plane before. He had to admit it was a little exciting. His nose was glued to the window as the plane stalled briefly.

A couple minutes later the plane started moving again. It was quickly picking up speed. A lot of speed. It was going faster and faster until he noticed the nose of the plane tilt upwards and the ground was starting to become distant. He was officially flying in and airplane. Grant it wasn't as cool as when he flies on his own but it was pretty cool. Not many shinigami could say they were in a plane must less riding in one.

Suddenly it seemed, now that everything was beneath him, the realization of his mission started to really sink in. He would be gone for nearly a year on his own amongst wizards no less. He sat back in his seat looking up at the ceiling, noticing the call button and light twitches. He was flying to England.

The plane wasn't so bad. It was kind of cool when they started through the clouds. He let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He knew he would be greeted by someone from European division. In a way the European division was like another country in the Soul Society. They had wanted set up a senkaimon directly to the European Division but like most things, red tape was involved. It was just too much for one person. After figuring things out it was decided that it would just be easier and faster to do it the human way. Take a plane and fly over. Politics are nasty. Each Soul Society keeps in contact with each other but only if something big is happening or is going to happen. Unless another Society asks for help they keep to themselves. This of course was that rare occasion. Out of all the Societies only the Far East Division had a child captain not to mention a child fukutaichou. Being that Toshiro fit the bill for going to a wizarding school… It was the only option really.

He also had to remember he was representing the Far East Division. This was a good way to make new ties between the two Societies. In a way he was a diplomat so he had to be on his best behavior. He also had to ready himself for the culture shock. He only had two weeks to adjust before he would be inside the walls of Hogwarts. A thought that made his skin crawl a bit. He couldn't let the wizards find out who or what he was.

The plane was finally leveling off and Toshiro looked out again at the distant ground though the spotted clouds. This was it he would be gone for nearly a year. He took notice of the man beside him. He didn't look well at all. He had a look of nausea and panic on his face.

"Are you all right, sir?" Toshiro asked as the man turned to look at him.

"No. I hate flying," he said, putting a hand on his stomach. "Ugh, this is the one part of my job that I hate. I like moving to different locations but I hate the process of getting there."

"Do you need some water or something?" Toshrio asked but the man shook his head.

"I forgot to my m-motion sickness p-pills. They're in my s-suitcase," he said, scrunching up his face. "I'm g-going to be sick."

The man quickly grabbed a bag from back pocket of the seat in front of him and opened it. He quickly stood and tried to make to the rest room at the back of plane but didn't quite make it. Great. Of the people to seat next to him he had to get the one that got motion sickness. This was going to be a very long flight.

* * *

A couple of hours passed when Sandy returned in his trademark bi-plane. It seemed like he had succeeded in finding Holly Wenn. The plane dissolved into the air as both of them landed gracefully on the floor. The guardians quickly hurried over to them.

Holly was considered the spirit of Halloween. However, there was an issues about that as far as Pitch was concerned. Halloween was supposed to have been his time to bring fear to children. However, as the last couple of centuries he managed to let All Hollows Eve slip through his fingers much to his disliking. Pitch and Holly had some real fights about it and showed. She had large scar on the left side of her pale freckled face. Pitch wanted the day to mean fear and only fear. Holly on the other meant for Halloween to be thrilling and fun to be scared. She encouraged people on Halloween to face their fears and enjoy it. She taught courage.

Her hair was cut to her bottom jaw and was a strawberry blond. She was short and thin. She was dressed in black and silver Halloween witch costume complete with a wand and broom. However, the wand and broom weren't for show. They were real. What a better person to help get Jack into that world.

"Ah, Sandy, Holly, I see you made it safely," North said with a large grin. "That is good."

"Wow, so this is your workshop?" Holly said, looking around in awe. "Not bad. Not bad at all. You have lot of yetis."

"I am glad you like. Not many get in here," North said, putting a large hand on Jack's shoulder. "Now getting down to business."

"Oh, yes, you," she said, eying Jack annoyingly.

"Hi," Jack waved at her sheepishly. "No hard feelings about 1991 blizzard, right?"

"Whoa, whoa, wait! Am I hearin' this right? He nailed ya with a blizzard too?" Bunny said, looking between Jack and Holly. "Glad to know I'm not the only one."

"Count them. Four days, Jack! Four of them! Oct 31st through Nov. 3rd all up the Midwest," she bit out, poking her wand into his chest. "I'm all up for a good practical joke but let's get real!"

"Would it helped if I said, 'I was sorry?'" Jack said, with a sheepish grin. "In my defense that one got a little out of hand. I wasn't predicting that front to be that strong when I tempered with it."

"That doesn't help," she stated, crossing her arms. "None."

"Regardless of what Jack did to you back then could you please help us?" Tooth asked, hovering between Jack and Holly. "I'm sure you've heard about Voldemort, right?"

"Oh, I've heard alright," Holly said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "That so and so is back. The wizarding world is divided. Some believe he's back and some don't. What a mess."

"That is why we need your help," Tooth said. "You know the wizarding world better than any of us. We're trying to sneak Jack into Hogwarts."

"As a student?" Holly looked around Tooth to see Jack still wearing that silly grin. "Oh, good grief. You want to let Jack loose into the wizarding world?"

"Trust me. That's wasn't my idea," Jack quickly said.

"Harry Potter goes to Hogwarts, right? Voldemort wants Harry Potter. The school is full of children," North stated, putting a hand over his heart. "It is our oath and duty to protect children. Jack, well, he'll fit in better than anyone else."

"I'm so glad I'm not a guardian," Holly muttered under her breath before clearing her throat. "So, I take it you want me to take him visible and give him a crash course on how to be a wizard?"

Sandy nodded his head and gave her the thumbs up. Holly dropped her shoulders and rubbed the sides of head. She was already getting a large headache. She let out moaning sigh but slowly nodded her head. She was not looking forward to this at all. Of all the rotten luck.

"Fine. It's a deal only because I own Sandy something from a long time ago," Holly stated, looking down at the Sandman. "We'll leave for England at dawn."

"Ah, very, very good!" North said, clapping his hands together.

"Then why don't feel so very good," Jack moaned.

"Ah, c'mon, Jack. Cheer up," Tooth said with a smile. "Just think of it! You're going to a wizarding school! Isn't that exciting?"

"Oh, yeah, assumin' he doesn't blow his cover right off the bat," Bunny snorted. "If he does it will be exciting for completely different reason."

"Yeah, great," he drawled, walking off. _I'm not going to like this. Not one bit._

(A/N Yeah, end of chapter one. **Holly is NOT a permanent character.** She's only there to get Jack started. Also the Halloween Blizzard of 1991 was a real. I looked it up. So tell me what you all think. I decided to go with a different approach. It seems that just about every single story has Dumbledore going out and looking for someone to help protect Harry and join the Order. So overly done it sort of makes me sick. I decided to make it so that help secretly and unknowingly comes to Dumbledore. Makes for a better story, I think. But, hey, that's just me. Please comment. Thank you.)

Millie M. Banshee


	2. Fateful Meetings

Winterspell

Chapter 2

Fateful Meetings

(A/N New chapter yay! Well, now let's see how things go from here for the two cool heros.)

**SOUNDS/sounds**

_Thoughts_

_**Telepathy**_

* * *

(Last Time)

Sandy nodded his head and gave her the thumbs up. Holly dropped her shoulders and rubbed the sides of head. She was already getting a large headache. She let out a moaning sigh but slowly nodded her head. She was not looking forward to this at all. Of all the rotten luck.

"Fine. It's a deal but only because I own Sandy something from a long time ago," Holly stated, looking down at the Sandman. "We'll leave for England at dawn."

"Ah, very, very good!" North said, clapping his hands together.

"Then why don't I feel so very good?" Jack moaned.

"Ah, c'mon, Jack. Cheer up," Tooth said with a smile. "Just think of it! You're going to a wizarding school! Isn't that exciting?"

"Oh, yeah, assumin' he doesn't blow his cover right off the bat," Bunny snorted. "If he does, it will be excitin' for completely different reason."

"Yeah, great," he drawled, walking off. _I'm not going to like this. Not one bit._

* * *

(Present Time)

Toshiro couldn't be more happy to finally get off the plane and actually stay on the ground for a while. He was finally in England at the London International Airport. The plane had just docked and people were filing off. Well, this was it. He now had to play diplomat. He adjusted his clothes as he walked down the dock. Two people from the European Division were to meet him once he got off the plane.

Once he stepped of the dock he had a look around. The shinigami, or grim reapers as they were called over here, were known for their clean cut suits and glasses. For some odd reason grim reapers had a strange genetic defect that caused them to be very nearsighted and have strange green eyes. Toshiro tried to get a good look around but there were a lot of people around him. He really hated his height.

"Yoo-hoooo, over here," a high pitched voice sounded off to his right. "Little boy! Here we are!"

Toshiro turned his head to see an abnormally tall woman waving to him. She was dressed in a bright red suit and red glasses. She also had a full head of super long red hair. There was something slightly off, however… There was a man not too far behind her dressed in a black suit and glasses. His black hair was slicked back and he seemed rather annoyed at his partner. He was the holding the sigh that read "Hitsugaya Toshiro" in romanji.

That was obviously them. Toshiro sighed and walked over to the odd pair. This was going to be interesting. He stopped before them and bowed to greet them. They awkwardly did the same.

"Captain Hitsugaya," the man in black stated, putting his hand out as Toshiro shook it. "I am glad to see your plane landed safety. Welcome to London, England. I am William T. Spears."

"Awe, aren't you just the cutest little thing," the woman said, looking Toshiro up a down.

"Knock it off it off, Grell," William snapped as the woman stuck out her tongue.

"It's Gretel now," she snapped, shaking a finger angrily at him, before turning back to Toshiro. "You'll have to excuse my partner. He's rather quite rude at times."

"I believe you have that backwards," William stated coldly, pushing up his glasses.

"Fine, fine, whatever. Nice to meet you, Captain, I'm Gretel Sutcliff," she smiled, showing some unusually sharp teeth. "It is quite a pleasure to meet you."

She put her hand out and Toshiro wearily shook it. Was this a man or a woman? In this day and age there's no telling. He weakly returned the smile he was given.

"Thank you," Toshiro answered.

"Well, time is a precious thing," William said, looking at his watch. "Let us collect your luggage and carry on from there. We have much to discuss."

Toshiro followed them down to the baggage claim. He took his time to look around. The whole atmosphere was completely different from back in Japan. This was quite amazing. He was just taking everything in as he went along. Soon they arrived at the baggage claim and Toshiro waited to see his two suitcases on the conveyor belt.

He found one quickly and pulled it off. They had to wait a little bit for the second one. Well, that was it. William grabbed his bags and the trio headed for the main doors. The conversation was pretty dead at the moment but it would most likely pick up when they were in a more secure location. When they exited the door Toshiro look out at the skyline of London. This was certainly going to be new. He was just waiting for the culture shock to really set it.

"I thought Ronald was waiting for us with the car?" Gretel snorted, crossing her arms. "And who gave him a license anyway? He drives like an old man."

"He'll be here and he doesn't drive like an old man," William replied sternly. _More like an 8 year old._

"Oh, I hope you don't find us rude," Gretel said, looking down at Toshiro. "It is rather unprofessional to be late. We usually don't have other societies visiting."

"It is quite alright. I'm not in that big of a hurry," Toshiro replied, looking at people getting in and out of cars. "There are a good number of cars lined up. Maybe he's just backed up. It's nothing to worry about."

"That had better be all," Gretel snorted.

"Captain, your English is impressive," William said, turning to look at Toshiro. "I must say that I am surprised. Your accent is bit a thick but your sentence structure or pronunciation is very good."

"Thank you, Mr. Spears," Toshiro nodded.

"Ah, there he is," Gretel waved, getting the driver's attention "Hey! Over here, Ronald!"

A shiny black car pulled up in front of them. It wasn't anything too fancy but it wasn't a cheap car either. The trunk was popped and William went to put Toshiro's luggage in there. A man stepped out dressed in another black suit and glasses. His hair was two toned; blond on top with black underneath. His black hair was greying just a little. He opened the doors to the car.

"I'm getting in the back seat with you," Gretel said with a wink, waiting for Toshiro to get in first.

Toshiro climbed first and Gretel climbed in right behind him. Toshiro wasn't going to lie. He would have preferred to ride with William in the back. William, however, got the front passenger seat. The driver, Ronald, closed the doors and quickly got back in the car.

"Good afternoon, Captain, I am Ronald Knox," he said, brushing back some of his hair. "How was your flight?"

"It was… Interesting," Toshiro paused on the last word. "As it was my first plane ride I have nothing to compare it to."

"Well, I guess that makes since," Ronald said, putting the car in gear and hit gas a little too hard and then the brake. "Oops. I'll get it!"

"For crying out loud!" Gretel snapped, grabbing the back of Ronald's seat. "Where did you learn to drive?"

"Will you back off," Ronald snapped turn around to glare at her. "I'm still new at this! At least I know how to drive! You wouldn't even try!"

"Turn around. Eyes on the road," William stated, pushing Ronald back around in his seat. "Ease the gas and turn on your signal."

Ronald grumbled something under his breath but did as ordered. Soon they were in moving traffic, leaving the airport. So this was it. His mission had officially started. He turned to see Gretel grinning at him with her shark-like teeth.

"It's really hard to believe that a child your age could make it to such a high level. It took me a great many years to get to where I am now," Gretel said, pulling out a compact from her skirt pocket along with a tube of bright red lipstick. "Ronald, don't hit any potholes. I'm trying to put on my lipstick."

A moment later just to spite her Ronald did hit a rather large one. The lipstick went right up the side of her nose and right into the corn of her eye. There was long heavy red streak running up her face. Ronald looked back in the in his mirror and started to laugh. William tuned around briefly but seemed to chuckling in a more muted tone. Gretel, however, was not at pleased. She turned to look at Toshiro who was looking rather intently out the window covering his mouth. Even the young captain found this to be funny.

"You did that deliberately! I told you specifically to not hit any potholes," Gretel snapped, her face turning a red as her outfit. "You have embarrassed me in front of the Far East Representative! If you weren't driving I'd—!

"We're in a construction zone. There are going to be potholes," Ronald replied, reaching to wipe his eyes before pulling handkerchief from his breast pocket. "You were the one stupid enough to put on makeup, Grell."

"It's Gretel and give me that," Gretel snapped, jerking the handkerchief out his Ronald's hand and started to wipe way the lipstick. "Honestly, you have no manners."

"That is enough," William said coldly, breaking up the argument. "Captain Hitsugaya, we need to start talking about what it is you need to be doing on your assignment."

"Yes, of course," Toshiro nodded, turning to look at William.

"I have a stack of papers for you to sign for both our Society and the Wizarding world," he said, opening the glove compartment and handed to the boy along with a pen. "There is an 'X' for areas where you need to sign your name. Fill out everything."

It was quite a hefty stack of papers but he immediately went to work reading them and signing them. It wasn't long before they pulled into parking lot. Toshiro looked and notice with an fairly tall building a looked rather old.

"We've managed to secure a building down here in the living world," William stated, getting out of the car along with everyone else. "It's not far from where you're going to be staying for the next couple of weeks so we will be in close contact."

Toshiro's luggage was picked up by Ronald and they headed inside the old brick structure. Toshiro was taken down a long corridor to a conference room. Ronald dropped off the suitcases just inside the door and left with Gretel. The door was closed behind them and Toshiro took a seat. He set the papers down and started working on them again. Only William was left with him.

"While you finish those I'll start describing things to," William said, sitting across from Toshiro. "You will be staying at a wizarding pub known as the Leaky Cauldron. It also serves as an inn. It is only two blocks over and is also an entrance way leading to Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley is a large wizarding market and you will find all of your school supplies there. There is also a large bank there call Gringgots. That place is a fortress and staffed with goblins. I would advise you not to anger any of them. Goblins can be very ill tempered. You can exchange your muggle money, as they call it, into currency used by wizards."

Toshiro turned up from his papers to look at William. Goblins? Okay, then. There was a lot of stuff he was going to have to get accustomed to. William continued to explain everything of importance while the captain finished up the last of his paperwork. Once finished, Toshiro was handed some more papers.

"That is your acceptance letter for Hogwarts and the other papers are just a list of reminders and contacts for you if you need anything," William said as Toshiro broke the wax seal on the letter and started reading. "We thank you greatly for coming such a distance to aid us. There is only so much we can meddle with in the wizarding world. Someone of your age would be far less likely to be detected."

"That's fine. I wasn't quite captain yet when Voldemort was at his height. I remember hearing the stories," Toshiro said, looking over the list in the letter. "Grant it most of his power was centered here but the shockwaves did stretch as far as our own wizarding community."

"That is another thing. Over here people do not utter his name," William said, running his hand over hair. "The mentioning of his name is quite taboo. You are to refer to him as 'you-know-who' and 'he-who-must-not-be-named.' Idiotic really."

"Yes, after all it is just name," Toshiro agreed, closing the letter and sighed. "That is quite a list of items."

"You of course will be going in as a first year student so the items list will be a bit larger than the others," William pointed out. "Please read the other papers at your leisure as they tell you more about the wizarding world. You have two weeks as a buffer to get accustomed to their ways."

"Yes, of course," Toshiro nodded. "Mr. Spears if you don't mind me asking where are you seated here?"

"Seated? Ah, yes, as of two years ago I became Assistant Director," he said, pushing up his glasses again. "That is basically the equivalent of your squad one lieutenant, I believe. I'm not much of a field agent anymore."

"I see. Also… This might be prying a little too much but Ms. Sutcliff—"

"Use to be a Mr. Sutcliff, yes. He is legally a she now and I'm still working it all out," William said, rubbing the sides of head. "Now, are there any other questions?"

"Not at the moment," Toshiro said, picking up his papers.

"Oh, hold on," William said, getting up and walked out of the room.

A couple minutes later William walked back in the room with a large jar with some sort of insect inside it. He set it down in front of Toshiro. It was a large iridescent green dragonfly with glassy purple wings. He had to admit it was a rather pretty creature.

"They are very similar to your Hell Butterflies. We call them Carrier Flies," William unscrewing the top as the insect flew out and landed on his finger. "They will be good for communicating with us here. With the Ministry sticking their nose into everything they wouldn't think twice about these. They will be looking more for owls than insects. I sure you know if you must send something by owl, encrypt it."

"Of course," Toshiro said as William handed the large insect off to Toshiro to look at. "I'll be using the owl for long distance messaging."

"Very good then," William said as Toshiro put the bug back in the jar. "If we are finished here I will have someone escort you to the Leaky Cauldron."

Toshiro got to his feet and followed William to the door. Toshiro grabbed his luggage, stuff the papers inside, and waited. Much to his dismay it was Ms. Sutcliff to greet him. Wonderful. Gretel had her creepy grin on. Toshiro felt uneasy.

"Well, I shall be taking you down to the nasty old pub," she said with a long sigh. "I don't care much for that place. It smells and it's rather dingy. Do come along, Captain."

Toshiro didn't utter a word as he followed her back to the front of the building. It was just two blocks and he would be on his own in the wizarding world. They walked across the parking lot to the sidewalk.

"I must say I was surprised when you stepped off the plane," she said, looking down at Toshiro.

"Meaning?" Toshiro inquired, looking up at the red head.

"Well… You are an interesting sight to behold," Gretel said as Toshiro tensed, coming to a crosswalk. "Bright white hair and those big aquamarine eyes. If you were older you'd be quite the fetch. But your looks are not too terribly common. No even around these parts."

Toshiro felt a small twitch of anger build in his gut. Did this person just hit on him? Anyway, he always caught hell for his looks. Especially, when he was younger. It wasn't his fault. It stemmed partially from his powers. It wasn't long before Gretel brought him to a stop. Toshiro looked up and saw an old wooden sign. This was it; The Leaky Cauldron.

"This is as far as I go. You're on your own now, Captain," she said, looking down at her painted nails. "Be careful in that world. Your very appearance will catch you a lot of grief, I'm afraid. Wizards can be bigots and nasty ones at that. Don't give them any reasons to hurt you."

"I'm not planning on it," Toshiro answered, bowing to her. "Thank you, for escorting me, Ms. Sutcliff."

"Oh, my dear boy, the pleasure was all mine," she giggled, acting like she was blushing. "Do run along now, Captain. Goodbye and good luck."

"Thank you," Toshiro said, walking towards the pub with his luggage in hand. _Well, here it goes. Wizarding world here I come._

Toshiro walked down the few narrow steps and opened the wooden door. Indeed, Gretel was right about the place. It did smell. It reeked of unwashed bodies, smoke, and alcohol. Uck. Toshiro knew it would be rude to hold his nose. He walked the rest of the way in and shut the door. The place wasn't overly crowed but there were several full tables.

By the time he made it halfway across floor he noticed he had a good amount of eyes on him. He pushed the uneasiness back and continued to the counter. He was greeted by on older, bald man cleaning a pint glass. The man looked casually over the counter at Toshiro.

"New Hogwarts student?" he asked, setting the glass down before grabbing another.

"Yes," Toshiro nodded as man sat that class down.

"I suppose you're looking for a room, right?" the man asked and Toshiro nodded. "We've got a couple of rooms left. What's your name?"

"Toshiro Hitsugaya," the captain answered as the pulled out a book with a quill.

"How do you spell that?" the man asked, pausing.

"I'll write it," Toshiro said, as the book and quill was handed to him.

Toshiro quickly wrote down his name and give the items back. The man looked it over before turning back to him.

"How long will you be staying?" he asked.

"The last two weeks before school starts," Toshiro answered.

"Very good, then. I'll take your bags," the man said pulling out his wand, lifted them up off the floor and over the counter. "Follow me."

Toshiro quickly followed the man around to the other side towards a set of stairs. The man pulled a key off a hook and started up the steps. Toshiro quickly followed him down a corridor to a room on the end.

"Sorry all we have left are small rooms," the man said unlocking the door and opened it. "Most of the other rooms are occupied. Name's Tom by the way. Should you need anything just come downstairs and I'll see what I can do for you."

"Thank you," Toshiro said as his luggage was set down just inside the door.

Tom just nodded his head, handed Toshiro the key, and left. Well, here he was, finally. Toshiro walked in and shut the door behind him. The room was indeed small but nothing outrageous. The room looked fairly clean and the bed was nicely made. He went over to the window to look out. It was just the street below. He could faintly make out the rooftop of European HQ barely peeking over the surrounding buildings.

"Well, let me get started," he muttered, stepping back and went to his suit cases.

He opened one and pulled out his money bag. The first thing he needed to do was exchange his money. That was obviously to be done at that bank William had mentioned. Gringgots? Toshiro even pulled out that large yen note Urahara pinned to his shirt as a joke. Okay, off to exchange his Japanese currency for Wizarding currency.

Toshiro walked back out of his room and locked the door. He slipped the key into jean's pocket and headed back down the corridor. He needed to know how to get into the alleyway. He should have asked when Tom took him to his room. He hurried down the wooden steps nearly bumping into an older boy in a deep blue hoodie.

"Sorry," he said quickly, walking up to the counter. "Excuse, me, sir."

"Yes?" Tom answered.

"I forgot to ask how you get into Diagon Alley," Toshiro said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, you might want to catch up with those two. They're headed there now," Tom said, pointing towards another door. "Better hurry, boy."

Toshiro turned his head to see a strawberry blond witch and the boy in the blue hoodie he had nearly ran into.

* * *

"Jack, will you please pay attention to me," Holly snapped, hitting the boy in the back of the head. "Stop spacing off. You don't need to get into trouble here!"

"Ow! Okay, sheesh," Jack said, rubbing his head as he was lead out of the back entrance of the pub. "So, what's back here? It looks empty."

"This, Jack, is an entranceway to Diagon Alley," she explained, pulling out her wand and walked up to a brick wall in the small courtyard. "Now watch."

She took her wand and tapped it in certain order on the bricks. A moment later the bricks started file back and make an entrance way. Jack stood there in shock as he looked down the long alleyway full of shops. The streets were flooded with witches and wizards of all ages and sizes.

"Well, that's interesting," a young voice said from behind.

The two turned to see a boy. He was thin and rather small in stature. However, it was his dazzling white spiked hair and aquamarine eyes that really caught their attention. Jack felt like he was almost looking at a miniature version of himself. Almost.

"What?" the boy snapped, noticing he was being stared at.

"N-nothing," Jack said, walking up to the entrance with the young boy in tow. _Holy cow this kid… It's really sort of creepy. I've never ever seen anyone else that looks so much like me._

Holly and Jack stepped in as did the boy before the door closed back up. They watched as carried on down the street. This was very odd indeed. Jack's curiously started to get the better of him. He started after the boy and until he felt Holly pulled his hood and stop him.

"Where are you going?" she asked, glaring at him.

"I was just going to…" his voice trailed off.

"You have to stick with me. That spell could wear off at any time," she stated, letting go of his hood. "You can't just wonder off and I'd leave that kid alone."

"What? Why?" Jack asked, fixing his hoodie.

"Just trust me on this," she said letting a deep breath. "He's not something you want to go dealing with."

"I'm no following," he said as she started down the cobblestone alley.

"Don't worry about it. Today we're just here to look around," she said, looking back at Jack. "I want you to get a rough idea of what the wizarding world is like. Everything you need for school will be found here. However, they will be expecting someone to be in their 5th year. You're going to need a load of supplies that aren't on your list."

Jack groaned and rolled his eyes. Holly started to give him the grand tour of the place; every little nook and cranny. He had to admit it was a quite interesting place. The amount of strange and exotic items that could be purchased here really amazed him. He didn't like walking in the sneakers he was given and he missed his staff a good bit. He was ordered to keep his staff in room at the inn. He knew the next two weeks were going to brutal. Holly was going to give him a crash course in the culture whether he liked it or not.

Quite a few minutes had passed by and Holly took Jack over to an ice cream parlor. There were some odd flavors he had never seen before. He decided to go with a more traditional flavor like vanilla. Double scoop. They took a seat just outside the shop taking in the afternoon sun. Jack wasn't overly fond of it but the ice cream made up for it.

He paused mid-lick when out of the corner of his icy blue eye he saw that child again. He turned his head as the kid made his way through the throng of people in the street. He was clutching a large heavy sack. He remembered that sack being less than half that size.

"Holly, can you get me something to drink?" Jack asked, turning toward the Halloween spirit.

"What would you like?" she asked.

"Oh, surprise," he quickly answered as she got up and went back inside.

He quickly got up from his seat and navigated his way through the crowed. He knew he was really going to get it good from Holly but he just wanted a moment to talk to the boy. It wasn't long before Jack was almost on top of him. He reached out a touched the boy on the shoulder. The boy stopped and turned to look at him.

"Can I help you?" his Japanese accent was thick.

"Well, uh…" Jack said, rubbing the back of his head. _I actually have no idea what I was going to say to him._

"Have you nothing to say?" he asked, half turning back around.

"Are you going to Hogwarts?" Jack blurted out as the boy raised an eyebrow.

"I am," he answered, dully. "My first year."

"Oh, that's great! I'm going too!" Jack laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, great," the boy, drawled. He looked a little unsure of Jack. "Anything else?"

"Uh, no…" Jack said as his smile fell from his face. _Well, that didn't go as planned._

"And you are?" the boy asked.

"Jack. Jack Fro—Faust," Jack grinned but the boy's face remained neutral "And you are?"

"Hitsugaya Toshiro," the boy spoke clearly. "Hitsugaya is my family name, just so you know."

"Oh… Right you guys switch your names around," Jack said, tucking his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. "So do I call you—"

"Hitsugaya," Toshiro interjected.

"Okay, then. Hi-su-guy-ya… Did I say that right?" Jack question as Toshiro gave him a look.

"Hee-tsu-guy-a," Toshiro stressed. "There is no 'ya' at the end."

"Okay… Hee-tsu-gay-a"

" It's 'guy' not 'gay,'" Toshiro groaned, turning to leave. "Forget it."

"Hitsugaya," Jack said as Toshiro turned back around. "See. I got it."

"JAAAACK! JACK, WHERE ARE YOU?" Holly called out.

"Uh-oh," Jack said, biting his lip, turning to face the voice.

"I do believe you are being summoned," Toshiro replied and a strawberry blond witch, rushed towards them. "Have fun. She looks rather upset."

Holly got right up in Jack's face. Her freckled cheeks were a close color to her hair. She was not at all pleased that he just ran off. He was going to get it when they got back to the inn. It was Holly's job to get him integrated into this world and didn't need to be gallivanting off until he knew what he was doing.

"We're going back to the Leaky Cauldron," she snapped, grabbing him by the front of the hoodie. "I don't believe you did that to me. I got worried something happened to you!"

"I'm glad to know that you care but I just wanted to talk to—" he was cut off.

"To who? To him?" Holly quickly pointed down at Toshiro. The captain did not look at all pleased. "Jack, can't you just behave for a little while? I know you're a restless soul but you can't just take off when you feel like it. Not here, anyway. I don't want you to get hurt."

"It's just that I…" Jack voice faded and his shoulders dropped in defeat. "Never mind… Let's go back to the inn."

He knocked her hand off his hoodie and stared back up the stone street towards the inn. Holly watched as he slowly started to shuffle away into the crowd. She then looked down at Toshiro. He was looking up at her with his large sack of money still wrapped in his arms.

"Have something you want to say?" Toshiro asked as she just shook her head. "No? Then don't' you think you ought to catch up so you don't lose him again?"

She scrunched up her face at the comment but quickly took off after Jack. Toshiro readjusted his sack and started back down the street. He might want to catch up with them. He was suffering from jet lag as it was. He'd like to climb into bed and get a good night's sleep. He needed to get adjusted to this time zone.

Suddenly something dawned on Toshiro as he raced after them. Those two weren't what he thought they were. They hid themselves quite well. They were spirits. Very powerful ones at that. He had heard of them back at the academe but he never thought he'd see one, much less two of them. They were a special type of spirit much like shinigami but far rarer. Oh, this was going to be quite an interesting night.

(A/N Yep, I'm leaving it there. Tell me what you think so far. It didn't get quite where I wanted it to be but hey it's getting there! Thank you please review!)

Millie M. Banshee


	3. A Leap of Faith

Winterspell

Chapter 3

A Leap of Faith

(A/N I think it's funny. I've got way more follows than reviews. I must say that's new. Well, let's get to the story! Oh, by the way for those of you who don't know I got engaged this summer at an anime convention. So this Sunday the 11th of August I finally got my wedding dress! What a hassle this is turning out to be. Anyway, to the story!)

**SOUNDS/sounds**

_Thoughts_

_**Telepathy**_

* * *

(Last Time)

"Have something you want to say?" Toshiro asked as she just shook her head. "No? Then don't' you think you ought to catch up so you don't lose him again?"

She scrunched up her face at the comment but quickly took off after Jack. Toshiro readjusted his sack and started back down the street. He might want to catch up with them. He was suffering from jetlag as it was. He'd like to climb into bed and get a good night's sleep. He needed to get adjusted to this time zone.

Suddenly, something dawned on Toshiro as he raced after them. Those two weren't what he thought they were. They hid themselves quite well. They were spirits; very powerful ones at that. He had heard of them back at the academe but he never thought he'd see one, much less two of them. They were a special type of spirit much like shinigami but far rarer. Oh, this was going to be quite an interesting night.

* * *

Toshiro caught up to them just as they exited the alley and back to the small empty courtyard. He noticed that redhead witch kept giving him the "hairy eyeball" as they entered the inn once more. It was clear that she had a suspicion about Toshiro that Jack did not. Jack seemed rather egger to meet him but this witch seemed to be avoiding him. She may know what he is but was trying to play it off.

Toshiro was curious as to what a couple of spirits like them wanted here in the wizarding world. More importantly what was this Jack Faust—assuming that was his real family name—going to be doing at Hogwarts? Toshiro followed them to the steps, leading to the guestrooms. She pushed Jack up the steps first, keeping herself between Jack and Toshiro. She was more or less acting like a shield. The young captain wasn't going to do anything to them but obviously she thought otherwise. Finally, it seemed she had had enough.

"Why are you following us?" she snapped, turning on her heel to face the young captain.

"I am not following you. My room is towards the end of the hall," Toshiro stately drily, looking up at her. "I have the right to walk to my room, do I not?"

"That's not what I mean," she snapped, crossing her arms.

"Then what do you mean?" Toshiro asked just dry as before.

"Forget it," she snapped, turning back around. "Let's go, Jack."

"Hey, whoa! What's going on?" Jack asked, being pushed by the back of his shoulders down the hall. "I'm completely missing something here!"

A couple more doors down she stopped and unlocked a door. She shoved Jack inside and quickly followed right in behind him. She shut the door just as Toshiro passed. Well, now… So, this was their room. Toshiro continued on down to his room and unlocked the door. She obviously found the young captain to be threat. This might not bode well for him if he lets it continue. He set his money down in one of his suitcases.

Something wasn't adding up with those two. Normally even witches or wizards should be unable to see them unless they "believed" in them. However, they seemed rather corporeal when he saw them. He scratched his chin a bit. How could that be possible? He needed to know but that witch seemed a little less than friendly to him. He couldn't just sit on it. Although his bed was calling him, he might want to get this nasty job over with. He couldn't do anything to them but he had to show them that.

* * *

Holly put a special ward on the door and window. She didn't trust that reaper one bit. Jack looked more than a little lost. He also looked rather annoyed at what just transpired. He didn't like being kept out of the loop. He was sitting on his rollaway bed waiting for her to explain something to him. She let her shoulders drop as she sat down beside him.

"You gonna tell me what that was all about?" he asked, sternly.

"I want you to stay away from him. That 'boy' isn't what you think he is," Holly said, letting out a deep breath. "He's a reaper as in a Grim Reaper. The youngest I've ever seen."

"Oh," Jack said, turning his eyes the floor. "For real?"

"Yes and I don't know what a reaper is doing here. They hate dealing with wizarding folk," she said, biting her lip. "In the wizarding world they are considered as very dark beings. To be avoided at all cost."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm starting to get the sense you were a real witch when you were alive," Jack said, looking back at her again. _It seems some of that animosity has carried over with her a bit._

"That's just now dawning on you?" she asked as Jack pushed off the bed and walked across the room to look out window. "Who better to teach you then someone who knows this world?"

"Maybe… Maybe he's not what you think he is," Jack said, watching the busy street below. "I mean… He didn't seem very reaper-ish when I approached him. If he's what you say he is then why would he be going to Hogwarts?"

"To who-what…" Holly's face seemed to blanch a bit after hearing those words. "Say that last bit again."

"He's going to Hogwarts," Jack repeated, looking over her shoulder at the stunned witch. "So if what you told me was true then that reaper would be walking straight into a lion's den."

Holly suddenly looked rather ill at the thought of it. Why would a reaper be sneaking into Hogwarts? Could a reaper even perform magic? Who was he sent by? Was he working with the dark lord? A whole list of questions flooded her mind and her heart started to fill with worry. This was not good news. A reaper at Hogwarts? What was the world coming to?

**KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!**

Their heads quickly turned to the rapping on the old wooden door. Holly quickly jumped to her feet and drew her wand. She signaled Jack to stay where he was by the window, much to his disliking. She was really hoping that maybe it was the inn staff. However, a gut feeling was telling her otherwise. She cautiously made her way to the door.

"Wh-who is it?" she asked, her voice shaking a bit.

"I'd like to talk you; both of you," the voice young and thick with a Japanese accent. "I would like to set a few things straight between us if you don't mind."

"Go away," Holly snapped.

"I can't do anything against you. I am barred from doing such things," he stated quietly as footsteps moved past the door. "I can't talk freely out here. You have to let me in."

"Maybe we should," Jack said, getting a dirty look from Holly. "He could be telling the truth."

"And he could also be lying," Holly answered back.

"Ever hear of 'a leap of faith?'" Toshiro stated. "Take the barrier down and let's talk."

Holly just stared at the door. A leap of faith? She didn't trust this reaper one bit, however, Jack did for whatever rhyme or reason. She turned to look at Jack again who was pointing at the door handle. She gritted her teeth and waved her wand over the door, muttering something, She carefully opened the door and looked out into hall. The reaper was standing there with his hands up, free of any objects. It was a way of saying he was unarmed. She opened the door just enough to let him in. She quickly closed it again once he slid through.

Toshiro looked around the room; it wasn't much bigger than his own. He was quickly ushered to a chair. He sat down and looked up at Holly and Jack, who finally walked over. He did notice that her wand was pointed right at his face. She wasn't taking any chances with him.

"What are you doing here and who sent you?" she questioned.

"I'm not after you personally if that what you're referring to," Toshiro answered in a flat tone. "I can't give you too much information."

"Is that so?" Holly stated, looking angrier.

"Holly, calm down," Jack said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He might be more willing to talk to us without your wand practically being shoved up his nose. Huh? Ever think of that?"

"He's a reaper," Holly bit out. "You can't be too careful with the Dark Lord running around!"

"Just ease up a bit. You've still got that wizarding world mind set I've noticed," Jack pointed out as Holly turned to look at him. "Things are not always what they appear to be. C'mon, you must have learned that by now."

She hesitantly lowered her wand but kept it out. She didn't trust a reaper. No matter how young they were. She also didn't like the fact that they were now recruiting children. That made her blood boil to think about it.

"I would like to do a proper introduction first with our real names," Toshiro stated, looking at Jack on that comment. "I am Captain Hitsugaya Toshiro."

"Holly Wenn. The Spirit of Halloween," she stated clearly.

"Well, I'm Jack Frost," Jack stated, boldly with a grin. "The Spirit of Winter and the newly appointed Guardian of Fun."

"The Jack Frost?" Toshiro stressed, looking the older boy up and down. "Really?"

"What? Don't believe me?" Jack snorted, walking over to the corner of the room and picked up a long wooden crook. "Here, watch."

He took the staff and pointed towards the ceiling with a bright flash snow fell from nowhere it seemed. It didn't last long and it had melted on everything it landed on. Toshiro seem amused but clearly not awestruck by what just happened.

"I was expecting something a bit more—flashy," Toshiro replied, crossing his arms.

"Whoa! Excuse me?" Jack said, sounding little insulted, gripping his staff hard. "You want flashy? I can give that to you."

"Don't! Not in here!" Holly snapped. "Not in the room!"

"He just called me out," Jack stated, pointing at Toshiro.

"It's not polite to point," Toshiro said, looking at Jack. "By the way…"

A jet of thick ice raced from under his hand on the armrest, down the side the chair, to the old floor and right up Holly's back in the blink of eye. All the way, clear straight to the top of her head. She jumped at the suddenly coldness and weight on her back.

"AAAGH! COLD! COLD! VERY COLD!" she screeched, pulling her robe off and kicking the ice from her legs. "JACK! WHAT DID I JUST SAY!"

"I didn't! He did," Jack said, pointing again at Toshiro, wide-eyed.

Holly turned around now trying to pull the ice out her hair. There was a long stream of ice running from under Toshiro's hand all the way to where she had been standing. He looked rather proud of himself. Suddenly the ice that formed started to crack and crumble before completely evaporating.

"I think you needed to cool down for a bit," Toshiro stated, flexing his fingers. "You're rather high strung at the moment."

"Wow… So you can also…?" Jack drawled, walking back over to Toshiro.

"Yes," Toshiro nodded.

"Oh, sweet," Jack exclaimed, jumping in the air. "That is totally awesome! I can't believe this! Can you tamper with the weather?"

"Oh, no…" Holly groaned, rubbing the sides of her head. _Here comes a migraine._

"Some but not to your degree," Toshiro stated. "Using my powers at a much higher level will disrupt the weather in my immediate area only."

"This is so cool! I just can't get over it! I mean… Wow," Jack said with large smile on his face.

"However, my ice isn't for fun and games," Toshiro pointed out. "It is a specialized weapon catered only to me. Much like your staff is used to produce the bulk of your power I also have a conduit. However, given the nature of said conduit I can't produce it. Especially in public. This body I am wearing allows me to tap into that power but only to a certain limit."

"Oh, yeah, that's right you're a reaper," Jack said some of his joy vanishing. "So what is it? Is it like a scythe or something?"

"You'll be surprised how little true scythes are actually used," Toshiro said, leaning farther back in the chair. "I wield a Zanpakuto. It is a sword that's an extension of my very soul. Just so you know Zanpakuto are sentient. Out of all the divisions the Far East are the only ones to wield such weapons."

"That's fine and dandy but can we get to the real reason why you're here?" Holly said, looking a little tired. "That is why you knocked on the door in the first place."

"Yes, of course. My objects are quite simple," Toshiro said, looking between the two of them. "Sneak into Hogwarts, pose a student, and learn all that I can about threat of Voldemort's return. Maybe even put a monkey wrench in his plans."

"I don't believe that you just said his name like that," Holly said, looking a bit ill.

"It's just a name and only a name," Toshiro replied, bitterly. "Voldemort! Voldemort! Voldemort! Voldemort! It's stupid is what it is!"

"Oooh," Jack said, covering his mouth.

"Get out! Now," she snapped, pointing to the door. "OUT!"

"It's just a name!" Toshiro stated, getting to his feet. "If you all scared of his name how to expect to fight him, huh?"

"He does have a—" Jack started.

"Shut up!" she bit out.

"Shutting up…" he replied, lightly taping his staff on the floor then a thought struck him. "WAIT! Hold on a minute!"

"What?" both of them snapped.

"You're basically doing I'm going to be doing," Jack stated, looking down at Toshiro. "As a Guardian of Childhood I have sworn to protect kids no matter what, hence why I'm sneaking into Hogwarts as well. Our plans seem to be nearly the same. Give or take. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"You want to team up?" Toshiro asked, raising an eyebrow and Jack nodded. "Well, in some ways it would actually it be safer for us. Not to mention we could cover a bit more ground so to speak. I'm sure not even you can argue with that bit of logic, Ms. Wenn."

She looked like she was about to blow but she just nodded her head. She really couldn't argue other than the fact the boy was a reaper but that didn't seem to bother Jack. Most likely because the reaper was a child. As it was she couldn't follow Jack to school and her time with him was limited. Toshiro, although a total prick in her opinion, seemed to a bit more calm and in control. A large contrast to Jack who ran off his emotions and did whatever he felt like. He might be able to keep Jack in line somewhat.

"This is great! I'm not so worried about going to that school now," Jack said, looking a bit relieved. "You said you were a first year, right?"

"I did," Toshiro nodded.

"So you have the list for first years?" Jack asked.

"I do," Toshiro nodded again. "Why?"

"I've never been so… I'm going to t have to get some of the stuff off your list," Jack said, with a grin.

"Fine by me," Toshiro said, rubbing a bright teal eye. "My eyes are burning… Can we talk more in the morning? I'm suffering from some real jetlag."

"You know the best way to get over that is to force yourself to stay up until the time you would usually go to bed," Holly said, giving Toshiro a sideways glace.

"Oh, yeah, but you did take two freaking planes to get here," Toshiro groaned, giving her the same glance.

"You took a plane?" Jack said, looking amazed.

"Two of them. The first one was alright except the guy beside me was airsick," Toshiro said, letting out a long breath. "At the beginning of the second one, there was a fight with a couple of passengers and the attendants. They had done something or another and refused to get off the plane. We had to wait for the authorities to arrive and remove them. Found out they were wanted drug smugglers and the plane had to be searched before we could finally leave. I did not enjoy it."

"I don't think anybody would but why a plane? I mean…," Jack trailed off, biting his lip.

"Normally we don't use such methods to travel, however, think of divisions as countries," Toshiro explained, sitting back down. "We use gates or portals or whatever you want to call them to travel to this world and Soul Society. However, to open a gate in another division requires a bit of time and enough red tape to circle the globe. As it was just me, there was no reason to go through such a hassle. It was just easier to put me on a couple of planes."

"So why are you here, exactly?" Holly questioned, crossing her arms. "I get your purpose but why you in particular? Why would, I'm assuming the division here, ask to send for someone from another division?"

"Given my age I would fit better into a school. I'm a rarity if you will," Toshiro stated. "With the threat of Voldemort about to come to a head the European Division needed to get to the root of the problem."

"Harry Potter, you mean?" Holly asked.

"Not him personally. I'm not an assigned bodyguard. I'm there mainly to get an idea of Voldemort's movements and where he might be," Toshiro answered. "Harry is his prime target of course and some of the children are from Death Eater families. Children talk more so than adults."

"So You-Know-Who caused a problem with reapers?" Holly asked.

"Quite a bit. The Killing Curse Ava-whatever-it-is does something to souls," Toshiro explained. "It deteriorates them over a couple of decades and prevents from reentering the cycle. They just fizzle out to nothingness."

"When you say this cycle do mean like reincarnation?" Jack asked, looking surprised again.

"It's exactly like reincarnation. There is a current that needs to keep flowing. If that cycle is disrupted too much we could be looking at some serious problems in both the spiritual and physical realms," Toshiro clarified. "We can't allow him and his followers to use that curse on that scale again. It's just not allowable. If I have a chance I have been ordered to basically kill on sight."

Neither Holly or Jack said a word. Kill on sight? Yikes. Toshiro even said with a straight face. Jack and Holly looked between each other and then back at Toshiro. He was rubbing his watering eyes again. He did look unbelievably tired. It was only a little after 5 in the evening.

"Let's get dinner," Jack said, breaking the awkward silence. "That ice cream wore off."

"Dinner?" Toshiro drawled as Jack headed to the door.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Jack said, setting his staff down. "We can start making plans about Hogwarts and stuff like that. All this You-Know-Who stuff I getting a little—old."

"Good, we can use this a bit a real lesson one," Holly said, holding out her out. "I've got to recast that charm on you before you walk out."

"That thing again?" Jack moaned, rubbing his spiky silver hair. "It's feels nasty when it starts to work."

"Oh, hush. I find it works in a pinch," she said, tapping on the winter spirit on the head with her wand. "The funny thing about this charm it's supposed to make the person invisible, however, on spirits such as us it actually make of visible and it allows us to be heard as well. It allows Jack to interact with others but the spell does wear off when you least expect it."

"That's not going to do him any luck if he's sitting in the middle of class," Toshiro pointed out.

"I know, I'm trying to make him one of these," she pulled out a necklace with a small white jewel hanging from it. "The spell is amplified to last a week. All he'll need to do is master the spell and recharge it. But he can't ever take it off."

"How long will it take to make?" Jack asked as he opened the door.

"If all goes well just before you leave on the train," she said, following Jack out with Toshiro behind her. "There a lot of work involved so I would like if you didn't tamper with it before it's finished. I'll be getting most of those supplies tomorrow."

"So what is this lesson number one you mentioned?" Jack inquired as they neared the steps leading to the bar.

"This might do you both some good," she said, following Jack down the steps. "While you will find foods that you know, wizards have their own types of food as well. At every meal I want you to try and get use to the wizarding palate. You're both going to be eating this type of food all year long."

"I'm glad to see you're treating me now as a person," Toshiro added in and looked for an empty table. "You're even including me."

"Yeah, but I still wouldn't press your luck," she said with a sarcastic tone. "We still have to work out some details."

"Wonderful," Toshiro grumbled, pulling out a chair when they had found a table. _This is going to be a long two weeks. No, make that a long year._

(A/N Yay, it's up and finished. I somehow managed to get an infect toe and now I am taking antibiotics and long foot soaks. Not enjoying it. Oh, I just learn this little fact and this scared me. Jack Daniel, famous for his whiskey, actually died from an infected toe. He was trying to open a large safe when he forgot the combination. In his anger he kicked the safe, breaking his toe. The broken digit became infected, resulting his inevitable demise. To this day that is way the labels on Jack Daniel's products are black. I watch that and the last thing I wanted was end up with was gangrene. That's my little history lesson for the day. Thank you.)

Millie M. Banshee


	4. Wonderful Wands

Winterspell

Chapter 4

Wonderful Wands

(A/N Okay, here in the new chapter! Well, let's see how everything works out in this chapter. This should be rather funny. At least I'm hoping it will be.)

**SOUNDS/sounds**

_Thoughts_

_**Telepathy**_

* * *

(Last Time)

"So what is this lesson number one you mentioned?" Jack inquired as they neared the steps leading to the bar.

"This might do you both some good," she said, following Jack down the steps. "While you will find foods that you know, wizards have their own types of food as well. At every meal I want you to try and get use to the wizarding palate. You're both going to be eating this type of food all year long."

"I'm glad to see you're treating me now as a person," Toshiro added in and looked for an empty table. "You're even including me."

"Yeah, but I still wouldn't press your luck," she said with a sarcastic tone. "We still have to work out some details."

"Wonderful," Toshiro grumbled, pulling out a chair when they had found a table. _This is going to be a long two weeks. No, make that a long year._

* * *

(Present Time)

Toshiro woke up to a banging at his door. He sat up scratching his head a bit. He looked around his room. This place… Oh, that's right. He was in London. It was clearly midmorning as he slid out of bed to answer the door.

"You're not even dressed," Holly snapped, putting her hands on her hips as she looked down at a groggy Toshiro. "You were supposed to have met us downstairs 20 minutes ago."

"Working on it," he replied, shutting door in her face.

"That was highly rude," she said, through the door.

"Yes, it was," Toshiro agreed, opening one of his suite cases. "I'll dress and be down shortly."

"Alright, but do hurry," she replied.

Toshiro yawned a bit and pulled out his clothes for the day. He went to the small bathroom and washed his face a bit to wake up a bit more. This jetlag was something else. He was out cold when he hit his bed last night. The cool water felt good on his face. Especially, on his eyes. He dried off and got dressed. He brushed his hair and teeth. He was certainly not bright eye and bushy tailed. He put on his shoes and separated out some money to take with him today. They decided to some of their shopping today so they could spend more time on lessons.

Once he had worked out how much he was going to bring, he headed downstairs. He already saw that Holly and Jack were in the middle of breakfast. He let out sigh and made his way over to their table. He sat down and picked up an old worn menu. What was for breakfast?

"Jetlag's a real killer, huh?" Jack asked, putting a piece of fried egg in his mouth.

"I'll get over it," Toshiro muttered, looking over the menu. "Sorry, I overslept."

"Well, it happened," Holly stated, picking up a cup of hot tea. "Find what you want for breakfast?"

"Can I just stick with what I know? I'm not feeling too well," Toshiro asked, looking over the menu at her. "I'm not use to western food to begin with."

"Fine but at least try the pumpkin juice," Holly said, setting her cup down.

"Okay," Toshiro groaned, waving over a waitress.

* * *

Toshiro was not overly fond of that pumpkin juice. It was too sweet for him as far as he was concerned. Jack, however, really seemed to like it. Once Toshiro had finished eating, they got up and headed toward the courtyard again. It was nearly 11 now and Holly had wanted to be in Diagon Alley around 10. Well, they were an hour late. Holly pulled out her wand and once again tapped in certain pattern on the bricks.

The bricks separated revealing the large market once more. This was going to be interesting. Holly led the way with Jack and Toshiro right behind her. The street wasn't too busy but the rush would come more around lunch time. Hence why Holly wanted to do it earlier. As they walked down Holly started pointing out each shop and what they were. There was a shop for just about everything it seemed. She finally reached one branch of the alley and turned to face the boys. It was rather dark and not people were down there.

"That is Knockturn Alley. I don't ever want any of you to go down there," she warned sternly. "That is not a place for any of us. They alley caters more to the darker side of our world. So that is completely off limits. Am I clear?"

The boys exchanged glances and nodded. They continued on down for a ways more. Diagon Alley was bigger than they first thought. Now they got the grand tour it was time to get down to business. Best place to start as far as Holly was concerned was getting their robes and uniforms for school. She lead them back down to the best shop; Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Holly walked in first and a bell over the door rang. Toshiro and Jack had a look around the shop. In some respects it looked like a normal tailor's shop. There were clothes on mannequins, clothes folded shelves, and hanging on racks but just how the store was set up was different. Finally a woman came out from the back arms full of bolts of fabric. She set them down on the counter and hurried over to trio.

"Ah, welcome, dears. I'm Madam Malkin," she said happily, "Hogwarts I take it?"

"Yes," Holly nodded, looking sideways at Jack and Toshiro. "They need their robes."

"Very well," she said, looking the boy up a down. "One first year and… What year are you?"

"Uh, fifth," Jack answered.

"What house?" Malkin asked as Jack looked a bit nervous.

"He's a transfer. My cousin and his family just moved here from America," Holly said, flatly. "Jack will be needing everything. As you well know American schools are a bit different from our own."

"I see and what school did you attend?" Malkin asked, pulling out a tape measure.

"Why none other than Grayhorn School for Boys," Holly answered, it was extremely well rehearsed. "Best school in North America and 5th ranked around the world."

"Well, then you should do just fine in Hogwarts," Malkin said with a smile.

Jack gave Holly a funny look as they were ushered behind a curtain. That had to be rehearsed, somehow. They quickly got on a couple of stools and Malkin started to measure each boy.

"My, both of you are rather thin," Malkin said, looking at Toshiro and Jack. "And you two could almost pass as brothers."

"I know," Holly smiled, leaning up against the wall. "Hitsugaya is new to England as well. He was supposed to have entered Mahoutokoro but opted to study abroad at least for his first year. He looked a bit lost so I offered to help him get on his feet."

Oh, yes, this was definitely all thought out in advance. Toshiro gave Holly a dirty glare but she just seemed to smile at it. Once the measuring was done the boys stepped down and Madam Malkin walked into the back. The boys gave Holly an uneasy stare.

"You have a fib for everything," Toshiro bit out in a hushed down.

"Better a good fib than not knowing anything at all," Holly answered quickly and sarcastically..

"Just how many magic schools are located in America?" Jack asked.

"There are 6. Three in the US, two in Canada, and one in Mexico. Grayhorn is in the New England," she stated, clearly. "So if you say you're from Burgess it will be fine."

"You've really thought this through, haven't you?" Toshiro asked and she smiled smugly.

"Of course I have," she said, proudly. "You'll need to remember all this, however, to keep everything going.

"I know, just don't get carried away," Toshiro sighed as Malkin walked back.

"Well, these are their uniforms with all their robes and hats," Malkin said, holding a couple of large boxes with pointed hats sitting on top. "I'll ring you up out front."

The boys took their uniforms and went out front. Holly paid for Jack's and Toshiro paid for his own. Now where to next? As it was they were going to be shopping for two days so they didn't have to get everything right away. They might as well get their books. Flourish and Blotts seemed like the most logical place to go.

Toshiro ended up with a grand total of 8 school books and 2 other books just for reading. Jack's list was rather small only consisting of 2. Holly had gotten a look at the new book for DADA. She didn't like it one bit after she browsed through it. She bought both boys a book she thought better suited the class. Jack quickly let Holly know that he wasn't the best reader in the world. That would be something to work on. They had their books sent to the Leaky Cauldron via owl so they wouldn't have to carry them around.

Holly then brought them over to a street peddler selling trunks. They would need one for school after all. It was odd that she would stop at such a place compared to the other stores. An old wooden sign read: Trunks-A-Ton

"I'm surprised you came to this place," Jack said, looking at the different trunks.

"These are good trunks and they cost less than other places," she said, opening a couple of them up. "I've bought most of my trunks here for the last 5 years. Never had a problem with them."

"Thank you, ma'am. My family makes all of these trunks so that's right nice to hear," the vender said, a smile on his face, rubbing the back of his bald head. "We get shuffled around a bit by the bigger shops but we make it every year."

"Yes, you never seem to stay put in one place for too long," Holly said, closing them back.

"We have all sorts of trunks in different sizes and colors," the vender said. "There is a new one my brother and I have been working on. We're hoping this will get us some more notoriety. We just put them out on the market last week. Care to take a look?"

The trio shrugged as the man walked over to his right and stopped at a cobalt blue trunk edged in shiny copper. It was a rather large trunk clearly a long as Toshiro was high and stood just above Toshiro's waist. The outside of the trunk looked like it had 3 drawers in front and had cabinet doors on the sides.

"This is great a cedar trunk for sorting your things. Everything has a lock on it to keep the drawers closed and to keep people out of course. And the locks are impervious to most unlocking charms," he said pointing to the locks, before pulling a drawer out that looked 6 inches deeper on the inside than the actual drawer and just appeared out of the side of the trunk. "Each drawer is deeper than they look and looks like facing when closed. They use a variation of an extension charm. The cabinets on the sides are even deep enough to hold broomsticks with no problems. The main trunk has a false bottom that you can take out to make that about 3 feet deeper as well. We can even add dividers in the drawers and holders for broomsticks. I will also note that whatever you put in here will not be tossed around even if you throw it from a cliff. So everything will remain intact and where you originally left it. And it's even fire and waterproof. That was a little something I added. It may seem like a lot but it's good for storing or if you're on long trips. Great for school, it's less baggage."

The trio seemed to muse over the idea. It seemed pretty good. However, what was the price of said trunk? That trunk didn't sound too cheap. It was a good investment but was it one they were willing to make? It was a clean and solid design to be sure. It wasn't anything too fancy.

"Colors?" Toshiro asked, looking up at the man.

"Comes in 6 shades. Cobalt, black, ruby red, white, jade green, and violet," the vender replied, quickly.

"Edging?" Jack added.

"Copper, pewter, gold, and silver," the vender answered without missing a beat.

"Asking price?" Holly asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, it's 36 Galleons," he said, his voice trailing off.

"It's good but not that good," Holly said, waving him off and turned to leave. "We'll check out other places. Come along, boys."

"Hold on. Are you willing to haggle?" Jack asked, stepping up.

"Haggle? Well, I don't…" the vender looked a little surprised. "Not on new items so much."

"Okay, fine. Man, with an asking price like that… Shame really," Jack drawled, slowing turning around. "With us going to school, it really would of have helped. I mean, to bring something like that to Hogwarts would be right nice and if it caught on with the other students… Oh, well, let's see what else is around here."

"Okay, 31 Galleons!" the vender stated, boldly.

"How 'bout 14?" Jack offered.

"Not even once, boy! 29."

"Okay, 18."

"28."

"19."

"Okay! 26 Galleons and 12 Sickles! That's final!" the vender barked out.

"21 Galleons and 6 Sickles or we're walking," Jack stated quite firmly, looking the man in the eye. "Going once! Going twice! Three times… Good bye!"

"Alright I'll sell you each a trunk for 21 Galleons and 6 Sickles," the vender groaned, glaring at Jack like he wanted to strangle him. _Damn freaky brat!_

"Now that's a good bit better," Holly grinned and patted Jack on the back. "Good work."

"Thank you," Jack replied, proudly. "Now I would like it in this blue here with silver edging."

"Make mine violet with the copper." Holly ordered.

"Jade green and gold sounds good," Toshiro said. "Can you have them delivered to the Leaky Cauldron?"

"14 Sickles per trunk," the vender grumbled out.

"Fair enough," Holly said, pulling out her purse.

Toshiro pulled out his own money sack to pay for his trunk. That went better than expected. They gave the vender their room numbers before heading out again. It was a good thing Jack managed to get the trunk at a reduced price. However, one thing was eating at Holly about the whole thing.

"Jack, when did you learn the currency?" Holly asked, walking beside the winter spirit.

"I didn't. I just decided to run with it and hope for the best," Jack snorted, adjusting this box of uniforms. "I don't really know the difference from one coin to the next. But, hey… It totally worked out."

Toshiro and Holly just stared at him dumbfound as they continued on down the street. Didn't even know…? Wow… That was lucky to be sure. It might be wise not to press that luck again. Holly pulled out Toshiro's list again to look at it. What to get next?

"Well, okay… Let's see here… We still need to get a wand for each of you, cauldrons, phials, telescopes, scales, and a pet to boot," she read off, before folding it back. "It's about 1:30 so we can get lunch if you want."

"I'm up for that," Jack said as Holly pulled out her wand and recast the charm on him again. "Ugh! At least tell me when you're going to do that! That feels so nasty!"

"That should last for a while longer," Holly said, putting her wand back. "Hey, Hitsugaya, why don't you p—Hitsugaya? Hey, where'd you go? Hitsugaya?"

"Over here," Toshiro said, looking up at sign written in faded gold lettering. Holly and Jack arrived a moment later. "Ollivander's?"

"Yeah, it's the only wand shop in Diagon Alley," Holly said, walking up behind with Jack in tow. "And the best one you'll find anywhere in the world I say. They've made wands for generations. If anybody can fit you with a wand it would be Ollivander's."

"Well, we're already here so we might as well go in," Jack said, opening the door and a little bell rang.

Jack walked in first followed by Holly and Toshiro. It was a bit dusty as they looked around. Shelves with thin boxes lined every wall along with free standing shelves that continued on back. A couple of boxes were opened to showcase some of the wands. A couple of moments later an elderly man walked out from the back to the counter.

"Good afternoon, welcome to Ollivander's," he said, looking the trio over.

"Yes, good afternoon," Holly said with a smile. "These two need their wands."

"I see. And what are your names?" he walking over with a measuring tape. "I always like to know who will be receiving my wands."

"Jack Faust," Jack answered.

"Hitsugaya Toshiro," Toshiro also answered.

"Thank you. Okay, hold out your wand arms," Ollivander said, as Toshiro and Jack held out their right arms. "Mr. Faust, might I ask what happened to your previous wand?"

"Yeah, about that…" Jack said, quickly looking over at Holly for help as the measuring tape started taking measurement on its own. "Oh, that tickles!"

"Jack was actually raised using a staff not so much a wand," Holly said, bluntly. "It's a dying art as I'm sure you're well aware of. He just moved here from America and Hogwarts is right strict so he has to have a wand."

"A staff, you say? My, my… I would love to take a look at it sometime," Ollivander said, with a smile. "Staffs haven't been used since… Well, not for quite some time. There was a small revival in my father's time in the late 1800's but it only lasted about a couple years before dying out again. I have only heard rumor of some staff wielders but I have never actually seen one. The spells are more powerful but not as refined as a wand's abilities."

"Yeah, well, now you have," Jack grinned awkwardly as the tape measure then jumped over to Toshiro.

"And, Hitsugaya, correct?" Ollivander asked and Toshiro nodded. "Whereabouts are you from?"

"Karakura Town, Japan," Toshiro answered, watching the odd measuring tape measure everything on his body. "Transferred just for the year."

"Well, I'm sure Hogwarts will suit you nicely, Hitsugaya-san. You will learn many great things while you are there I assure you," Ollivander said, grabbing the measuring tape and sat it down on the counter. "Let's start with you, Mr. Faust."

The old shopkeeper started looking at a wall to their right. He muttered to himself and reached for a couple of wands before putting them back and grabbing a couple more from a shelf and returned. He opened the first box and handed it off to Jack.

"That is Maple, 11 inches, with unicorn hair at the core. Nice and light," he said as Jack just stared at it. "Well, give it a try."

Nervously, Jack gave the wand a curt flick. Barely a moment later the storefront windows cracked and just fell to pieces with a loud crash. He quickly set the wand on the counter.

"I am so sorry," Jack said, looking nervous.

"Not the worst thing to happen to my shop," Ollivander said, turning back to Jack and opened the other box. "Well, that certainly won't do. Try this one. Laurel Oak, 10 inches, dragon heart strings."

Jack cautiously took the wand and gave it a slightly slower wave. All the varnish on the floor peeled off and a few boards popped loose. Jack bit his lip, looking apologetic. No, not this one.

"I've been meaning to do a bit of work of the flooring, don't worry too much about it," Ollivander said, taking the wand and went to look for a few more.

Toshiro watched as Jack went through wand after wand. Even he was growing nervous. After all Jack was a spirit and so was he. Was there even a wand that they could use? Then again Holly had one but she may have that with her from the very beginning before she died so…

"You're a tricky one. Let's try something else," Ollivander said, coming back with 5 more boxes. "I believe one of these will do it. Black Hickory, 12 1/4 inches, kelpie mane hair."

Jack took the wand carefully before giving it a wave. The countertop cracked. Jack once again handed the wand back over the shopkeeper. The old man puzzled for a moment or two. Then pulled another wand out of the four remaining. He then paused before handing Jack the wand.

"Mr. Faust, by chance could you tell what wood and core makes up your staff?" Ollivander asked. "It might be able to give me a better idea on selecting a more suitable wand."

"Honestly… I know the wood is a type of white oak…," Jack rubbing the back of head, sheepishly. "Core wise… I can't really say…"

"White oak? I have many species of white oak but the core is the real tricky part," Ollivander said, putting the wand in his hand back in the box. "Let's do this. Bring me your staff and I'll have a look it. Don't worry about it. It will be in safe hands. As I'm sure you realize the wand does choose its owner as I'm sure your staff chose you."

Jack turned to look at Holly who just shrugged. It made since to try and find something similar to his staff. He might have better luck that way. Ollivander seemed to ponder on something before darting back to pick out a few more wands. About 8 in total. This was going to be a long day.

"These are made of various white oaks from North America tell me if any of these look like the wood of your staff," Ollivander said, opening the boxes on the counter. "Don't hesitate to pick them up and try them."

But Jack was hesitant to do that. He looked over every last one of them. They came in different sizes and designs. He might as well start giving them a try. Which one did he want to try first? He picked up the 3rd one gently and gave it a slight flick. The curtains caught fire. Holly was quicker to them out than Ollivander. That was a new trick for him. Not that one. How about number 7?

With another slight flick of the wand, boxes of wands were sent flying off their shelves. Ollivander quickly cleaned that up. How about number 5? The glass in the gas lamps shattered. Not that either. How about number 1? He gave that one a go. Only sending even more boxes off the shelves and right at his head this time. That hurt and what a mess it made!

"I am so, so sorry!" Jack said, quickly picking up boxes of wands into his arms.

"Don't worry about it. There are some that are harder to find than others," Ollivander said, using his wand to sort the wands back out their shelves. "But are you all right? Nothing broken, battered, or bruised is there?"

"No… I'm fine, really," Jack said, trying to adjust the boxes in his arms.

"I'll take those," Ollivander said, turning to Jack.

With a quick flick they were out of his arms and back on the shelf where they belonged. This was going nowhere fast. Jack took a step back to look at the wands he was given only to step on something. It was a box they had missed. Panicked he broke it Jack quickly picked it up and pulled it out. It was intact and a sigh of relief washed over him as did something else. The wand gave a familiar electric blue glow and air around them sudden became chilly enough to see their breath. This was different. Finally something that didn't explode, shatter, catch fire, or fly off the shelves.

"Well, I'll be… Looks like you found your wand, young man," Ollivander said, taking the wand from Jack and giving it a good once over. "I forgot I made this. I only had enough to make three of them. I wasn't overly fond of the wood as it was. This is Snow Gum, 13 inches, with mermaid hair of all things. This was an experimental wand of mine."

"Snow Gum?" Holly asked, not hearing of it before.

"It's a member of the eucalyptus family. It's found at a rather high altitude in Australia. It's a really hardy plant, I must say. Surviving severe negative temperatures," Ollivander said, handing the wand back over the Jack. "I would be careful with that wand, Mr. Faust."

"Yeah, of course," Jack said, really looking at the wand in his hands. "This is actually pretty cool looking."

The wand spiraled at the base like his staff did before straightening out and coming to a thin tip. The wood was a hodgepodge of colors from white, red, and grey. The handle was fairly simple; a deep, rich ebony with a matte finish. It curved down a bit as if trying to grip his own hand. He truly liked the design of this wand a good bit. But something started to become unsettled. What was he do with his staff? That old crook was the true conduit for his powers, so…

"How much for the wand?" Holly asked, pulling out her purse again.

"Well, let's see… 6 Galleons and 8 Sickles," Ollivander said as Holly started counting out the money and handed it over to him. "Thank you. Now, Hitsugaya-san, I do apologize for the wait. You have been most patient. Let's get started with you."

Toshiro watched as Ollivander put the money away before heading off to pull some more wands off the shelves. Well, it was finally his turn. Hopefully he wouldn't have to go through what Jack did to find his. Ollivander brought over 4 wands and set them down. He gave Toshiro another look over before reaching for a wand and handed it to the young Shinigami.

"Camphor, 9 inches, unicorn hair," Ollivander said, clearly.

Toshiro nervously took the wand and gave it a flick much like what Jack had done. The front door exploded. Ollivander quickly took the wand from him before replacing it with another. Holly was kind enough to repair the door. Toshiro looked at the new wand, unsure.

"Cedar, 10 inches, dragon heart strings," Ollivander said.

_**Master, I don't approve of the use of dragons in such a manner.**_

_Yes, understood,_ Toshiro nodded to the voice of Hyorinmaru. "Mr. Ollivander, this might sound a bit odd but I don't like the idea of dragons used in wands."

Ollivander looked at the boy oddly but put the wand away. He then pulled out the last wand and presented it to Toshiro.

"Cypress, 9 1/4 inches, with coral. It a sturdy wand," Ollivander said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

With another quick flick, the counter Jack cracked earlier completely fell apart. Not that one either. Much like Jack, he was handed one wand right after the other. It was early evening now and Toshiro was thinking it might be best to try again tomorrow. Ollivander set down 3 more. The man was clearly determined.

"Try this one. Plum, 9 1/2 inches, kelpie hair," Ollivander said, sounding bit tired.

Toshiro gave it a wave only to hear Holly give out a shriek. They all turned to see her wrap her arms around herself and headed for a more hidden corner of the shop. Her was dress was nothing more than shredded pieces that littered old wood floor. Jack's face turned a bright red as he reached to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"I m-must admit that's new. Most definitely not that one," Ollivander chocked out, pulling out his wand and quickly put the dress back together and levitated it over to her. "I do apologize for this inconvenience, ma'am."

"Gomenasai! I am very sorry, Ms. Wenn," Toshiro bowed quickly, his face a bright pink. "That was not intentional, by any means."

Holly quickly grabbed her now repaired clothes and got dressed. Jack was still trying not to laugh as his blue eyes started tear up. His laughing was barely muffled under his hands. Holly came out a bright shade pink from a mix of embarrassment and anger. She didn't know who to be more upset at; Toshiro for ripping off her clothes or Jack's blatant failed attempt at trying not to laugh. Either way, both of them were going to get an earful when they got back to the inn.

"Stop laughing, you idiot," Holly snapped but it only made Jack laugh harder.

"I haven't had such tricky costumers for quite some time," Ollivander said, putting up Toshiro's last wand and handed him the second one. "Cherry, 10 1/2 inches, kelpie hair. For some reason I want to go water based cores with you. I think they suit you better."

"No, no that's perfectly fine," Toshiro replied, taking the wand a looking over it. "Here goes…"

Another flick and the air become really heavy and thick with moisture. Enough that everything was getting wet and building condensation rapidly. Close but not quite. Ollivander quickly fixed that problem and went for the final wand and paused.

"Wait, I believe I have it," Ollivander said, putting the wand away and went to the back of the shop and pulled down a rather nice box that was covered in a bit dust. "I believe this will do it. It's a bit out of the norm. A rather exotic wand if you will."

The wand was rather unusual looking to say the least. It was a bright blood red, glassy finish, and rather long. It seemed to snake a little, making it not too straight until the very tip. The handle seemed to be made out a type of white polished stone with engravings for grip. This looked like a very expensive wand to put it bluntly.

"I know you're not one for dragon heart strings, however, this is a very interesting wand," Ollivander explained, pulling it out of the box. "That vibrate red color is from the tree's own sap. This is the wood of the Socotra Dragon Tree or Dragon Blood Tree. It's 10 inches long with crushed Kappa shell at the core. Something tells me this may be your match. The handle is alabaster."

The wand was beautiful, Toshiro had to admit. The wand was then handed to him. The moment the handle made contact with his hand it let off an odd glow that was a mix of bright aqua, white, with a touch of red. The air also seemed to drop about 20 degrees. Then everything went back to normal. A look of relief washed over Ollivander's face. So this was indeed his wand. Finally, that was over with.

"Well, I do believe we have finally found you your wand," Ollivander said, looking at the wand in Toshiro's hands. "That is a very precious wand, Hitsugaya-san. Very precious. It is one of the few wands my father and I made together. Do take good care of it."

Wow… Toshiro looked it completely over. It really was a fanatic looking wand. He knew it would be a bit pricy but he might as well get it. He didn't want to go through the trouble again. Ironically this wand fit him perfectly. He mostly likely wouldn't find anything better. It also seemed to please Hyorinmaru that it wasn't actually made from a dragon.

"How much?" Toshiro asked, putting it back in its box.

"Well, given the age, quality, and slight sentimentality…" Ollivander mused as he looked down at Toshiro, rubbing his chin. "I'll make you a deal, young man. Tell me, what is your ambition in life? What do you plan do with this wand?"

Good question… He knew what his mission in this world was; to watch over and protect the living. He might as well state the truth. He's going to learn how to use the wand while at Hogwarts he might as well use it for that purpose. Toshiro took in a deep a breath and looked up at Mr. Ollivander with a rather serious face.

"My ambition in life is to protect and fight for what is right not necessarily for who may or may not be right. I plan to master my abilities and protect those closest to me and even those that might just need a helping hand, no matter the size of the issue," Toshiro stated clearly and without missing a beat. "It's what we do with ourselves and our abilities that can make or break us. A wand may choose its master but it's the master that makes all the choices no matter how trivial or how great."

There was a long heavy pause in the front room of the store. That was… Well, wow. They did not expect that to come out his mouth. But it was true. In some ways it was eerily similar to what Ollivander had said to Harry Potter on the day he got his wand. It struck a chord with the old wand maker. This boy was much wiser than his age.

However, Ollivander had a feeling that the boy may be older than he appeared. How he knew was beyond him but something told Ollivander that the boy was far wiser to the ways of life than his "age" was letting on. Same could be said about Jack. However, Jack hid it better in his mannerisms. He acted more the part of someone not quite a man but not a boy either. Hitsugaya was a far different story. Ollivander got the feeling Hitsugaya didn't get a childhood and was forced to grow up far before his time. He pitied the boy a bit. A small smile split his face as he looking down at the "young" boy.

"Good answer," Ollivander replied. "One knut."

"What! That's it?" Holly and Jack gawked, surprise evident on their faces.

"That's it," Ollivander said, looking at them, before turning back to Toshiro.

Toshiro looked just as flabbergasted as the other two. Was this man serious? Just one little bronze knut? Toshiro felt like he couldn't just give the man such a small coin. It didn't feel right to him.

"Just a knut? I don't feel right giving you so little," Toshiro said, pulling out a galleon. "At least take this."

"No, we made a deal," Ollivander said, shaking his head. "My price is one knut."

"Don't argue," Holly whispered, popping the boy in the back. "It's a steal. Take it."

"That's just it. I feel like I'm stealing," Toshiro said, setting the galleon on the part of the counter that didn't fall apart. "Thank you, for the wand and keep the change."

Toshiro took the box and bowed to the elderly man. Obviously that was it. Toshiro made a beeline for the door, picking up his school uniforms on the way out. Well, I guess that was it. Toshiro wouldn't take the wand for such a cheap price after all.

"Thank you," Jack said, also picking up his own uniforms by the door. "Sorry about the mess we've made."

"Happens all the time. I'm used to it by now," Ollivander said as Jack opened the door. "Take care, Mr. Faust. However, Ms. Wenn, was it? May I have a small word with you?"

(A/N Yes, I'm ending it there. I'm so mean. I had a bit more to this chapter but I felt it was running a bit long. So please review. I do love feedback, thank you! I started school back last week. Not cool but it's also the start of the haunting season. I'm going to be work at a haunted house I've worked at for the last 2 years. It's going to be so cool!)

**Important please read! Let me explain some things. I did a few hours research on the type of wood I wanted to use. I actually do a lot of research for stories. I wanted something that would complement them both. Jack being the winter spirit needed something that could withstand his "ice powers." It took me a while to find a tree I liked that was known to survive sub-zero temps. I used mermaid because it is water based as snow and frost are made of water it made sense to me. He was also reborn again under the water. I went with 13 inches because 13 actually means a lot to me as it was my grandfather's lucky number.**

**With Toshiro I wanted to go the same route. I wanted something that went well with him. I originally was going to use cherry wood but after I threw out the dragon heart strings I wanted something that incorporated Hyorinmaru in some way. I happened to find a Genus of trees called Dracaena. Digging around a bit more I found out that the sap of these trees are bright red, which is how they got their name. The sap "Dragon's Blood" is used for many things such as incense, dyes, and even old medicines. It's even used in actual magic practices in the real world. So really the use a dragon tree isn't so far fetched. The Kappa of course is native to Japan. It's to show his heritage more or less. As Hyorinmaru's power is Ice and water it made sense again to use a water based core. Also Kappa are very interesting. The top of their is like a bowl that holds water and that is what enables them to walk on land. However, Kappa are really strong as long as they maintain the water in their bowl like head. However, they are also very proper. The best way to beat a Kappa is to bow to them in greeting as they will bow back spilling the water. Once their bowl is empty they can no longer walk on land and lose all their strength. Toshiro is very much proper and holds himself very proudly. The length of his wand is based of course on his squad's number which is 10.**

Millie M. Banshee


	5. Starting Lessons

Winterspell

Chapter 5

Starting Lessons

(A/N Well, here is the latest chapter. Oh, boy. Writing is such a pain sometimes. Anyway, start reading this story and stop listening to me ramble on.)

**SOUNDS/sounds**

_Thoughts_

_**Telepathy**_

* * *

(Last Time)

"Don't argue," Holly whispered, popping the boy in the back. "It's a steal. Take it."

"That's just it. I feel like I'm stealing," Toshiro said, setting the galleon on the part of the counter that didn't fall apart. "Thank you, for the wand and keep the change."

Toshiro took the box and bowed to the elderly man. Obviously that was it. Toshiro made a beeline for the door, picking up his school uniforms on the way out. Well, I guess that was it. Toshiro wouldn't take the wand for such a cheap price after all.

"Thank you," Jack said, also picking up his own uniforms by the door. "Sorry about the mess we've made."

"Happens all the time. I'm used to it by now," Ollivander said as Jack opened the door. "Take care, Mr. Faust. However, Ms. Wenn, was it? May I have a small word with you?"

* * *

(Present Time)

"Yes, of course," Holly said, turning away from the door. "I'll meet you outside, Jack, and stay close to the shop."

Jack left, closing the door behind him. Ollivander started going about cleaning up his store, which included the storefront windows. This was nothing new with the old man it seemed. Once most everything was pretty much picked up, Ollivander turn to her with an odd sort of look in his eyes. Holly pondered on what the old wandmaker wanted to talk about.

"Ms. Wenn, please don't find me rude but I do find your wand quite interesting. Might I have a closer look?" he asked, repairing his front counter.

"Uh, well," she mumbled, feeling for her wand. "I… I suppose."

She hesitantly pulled her wand out and Ollivander took it from her. He looked it over a great deal. He seemed to be very interested in it. What was he looking for? A surprised look took over his face before looking back up at Holly.

"How long have you had this wand?" he asked, twirling the wand between his fingers.

"Years," she replied, uneasy.

"How did you obtain it?" he asked, his look hardening a bit.

"I-I won in a duel," she answered but she knew that didn't settle with Ollivander.

"In a duel, you say? It must have taken a liking to you, to be ripped from its previous owner and used without any effort on your part," he said, stopping his twirling. "This is a very old wand. Older than myself and my father rest his soul. It's Maple, 11 3/4 inches, with unicorn hair from the looks of it."

"You're correct," Holly nodded.

"Now are you sure you won this wand in a duel?" Ollivander asked, looking Holly in the eye.

"Yes," Holly stressed, trying to sound steadfast.

"Do you know that this wand is so old that it was made in great-grandfather's time?" He asked, holding it up and pointed to something very tiny on the end of the handle. "This tiny little mark here is a wandmaker's mark. It tells us when the wand was made and who made it. This is indeed a wand made by the Ollivander family."

"Ohhh… Did not know that," she said, reaching for her wand but it was quickly pulled from her reach. "Thank you for the history lesson. I'd like it back."

"I would like to ask just a few more questions, Ms. Wenn," Ollivander said, keeping a firm grip on the wand. "I've had some rather difficult costumers before but never have they been as difficult as those two boys you brought in. Where did you meet them?"

"Jack is a distant cousin and Hitsugaya we met yesterday at the Leaky Cauldron," Holly explained and Ollivander mulled over answer. "Hitsugaya seemed to be a bit lost so we decided to give him a hand."

"I see," he hummed quietly, setting his jaw. "Speaking of young Hitsugaya… The boy is unimaginably intelligent. He seems far wiser than his years."

"I don't know anything about him really," Holly stated. "But I will admit he is a very intelligent child as you said."

"And your cousin is indeed an avid staff wielder?" Ollivander questioned and Holly nodded. "They seem a bit of place here, Ms. Wenn. I don't know what their purpose is or yours for that matter but I would advise that you and those boys do tread carefully."

"Is that a threat?" Holly snapped, her eyes narrowing.

"It's a warning. I like to think I've become a pretty good judge of character over these many years. I know neither you nor your boys are a danger to anyone," Ollivander clarified. "They are here for a reason and I believe it is for the right reason. I won't tell a single soul as I don't know who they really are or what their purpose is. I must say, however, that I'm very interested in both of them. Especially Hitsugaya."

"Are you finished?" Holly asked, bitterly.

"No… Not quite," he sighed, handing Holly back her wand. "I know that Mr. Faust is most likely very much attached to his staff. I'm quite sure he would be heartbroken if he could not take it with him to Hogwarts."

"Yeah, he's already mentioned that," Holly nodded.

"Have him bring it to me. I might be able to do something about its size. What the teachers don't know won't hurt them," Ollivander smirked as Holly raised an eyebrow.

"You mean he may be able to bring it with him?" Holly inquired.

"Yes, but it may be a bit difficult on my part," he answered, walking over to a shelf full of books. "My family specialized in wands for many a year. However, when staffs were still widely used we also made a few of them. I have some old family archives on the matter of staff crafting. I will do my research and see if I can aid the boy."

"Oh, wow… Okay. How much is that going to cost?" Holly drawled, looking at the aging man, skeptically.

"We'll talk about the expenses when I figure out everything," Ollivander stated, picking up the galleon Toshiro had left on the counter.

Holly wasn't too sure about this. She wanted to say the man had good intentions but she was always skeptical about a lot of people. But if Ollivander could really help Jack with his staff she wasn't going to put up fuss. Jack needed his staff with him.

"Alright. When do you want it?" she asked, turning to look at Toshiro and Jack talking out in front of the store.

"Whenever it is most convenient for you to bring in," Ollivander said, going back to cleaning up the last little bit of his shop.

"Tomorrow, perhaps," she said, turning to leave. "Thank you."

"Yes, of course," Ollivander said as Holly opened the door to leave. "Do take care."

Holly nodded and walked out the door. She let out a sigh joining Toshiro and Jack back out in the street. Needless to say they were tired and wanted to get back to the inn to eat, relax, and go to bed. They slowly made their way up the street and back into the courtyard. Once in the pub they dumped everything off in their rooms before headed downstairs for dinner.

"Jack, Ollivander said he might be able to do something with your staff so you can take it with you," Holly stated, sipping a glass of warm tea. "You wouldn't mind him having it for a few days, would you?"

"No, not at all. I wouldn't mind if it means I can bring it with me to school," Jack said with a smile. "That's great. Now I don't feel so bad."

"We can drop it off tomorrow," Holly said, picking up her spoon and put in a bowl of soup. "Let's get up early enough tomorrow to get the shopping out of the way first. I want to really start both of your lessons. In particularly yours, Jack. Being in your fifth year means you will be taking your OWLs."

"My what?" Jack questioned, setting his fork down.

"OWLs. It stands for Ordinary Wizarding Levels. It's a very important exam," Holly stated and Jack seemed to turn a little paler. "I'm going to have to put you through the ringer. We're going to touch on everything. There will be no slacking off."

"Have fun," Toshiro said drily, sipping his water.

"What? I-I… Wha… You're kidding?" Jack choked out, looking wide eyed at Holly.

"I am not. This is not going to be easy," Holly sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "OWLs determine what your future career maybe. If you're good in a certain area and want to pursue it and you pass the exam you continue school following that course. It runs 2 weeks."

"Two weeks?" Jack moaned, pushing his plate of food away. "I suddenly lost my appetite."

"You've never been in school before, correct?" Toshiro asked as Jack slumped in his chair and crossed his arms. "Any large exam I'm sure they will have reviews. I did. I had more exams than I care to remember. Written and practical. They hardest ones were the field exams."

"The same can be said for the OWLs. You will have written and practical," Holly said, looking at Jack dully. "I'd watch out for potions. I hear the current professor is very strict and expects results."

"Wonderful," Jack drawled, running a hand down his face. "I'm not going back after this year, am I?"

"Most likely not but it wouldn't hurt to really keep playing the part. I'm just giving you a heads up," Holly said, wiping her mouth. "I know a place that's off the wizarding radar so we can practice without being detected. After all underage wizardry is forbidden."

"How forbidden are we talking?" Toshiro asked, raising an eye brow.

"Exposition from school, a trial, and your wand being snapped," Holly answered. "All wands come with a special charm, a tracer, to make sure underage wizards and witches don't do anything they are not supposed to. Also never perform magic in front of Muggles. They'll get you on that too."

"Got it," Toshiro nodded, curtly. "So where can we practice?"

"Well, we have a few places we can go to during the day," she said, putting a piece of hair behind her ear. "We can go back to North's works shop, the Warren, Tooth's palace, Sandy's place, and my own mansion. All those places are protected by MiM from the wizarding world and Muggles. They won't be able to detect the use of a wand."

"Wow, cool," Jack said, sitting up in his seat.

"We can use my place as I have everything you need here but I do want to keep the inn as a home base," she stated. "You will need to interact with other wizards and witches to get an idea of culture and to network."

"Okay," Jack nodded. "So we'll be starting this tomorrow?"

"Yes, I suggest we get to bed early. I'd like to leave for the alley early this time. Let's say 9 this time," she said, looking right at Toshiro. "So be down here at 8."

"Alright, I get it. I won't oversleep," Toshiro said, getting up out of his seat. "Well, if that's the case I'm going to take a shower and go to bed."

"We will be doing the same," Holly said, getting up followed by Jack. "Good night, Hitsugaya."

* * *

Arriving on time downstairs the trio ate breakfast and made it to Diagon Alley just before nine. Of course the first thing they did was drop of Jack's staff with Ollivander. They then quickly went to various shops and bought the last of their school items. Holly decided to let the boys have about an hour just to look around and buy other smaller items they might like to have with them at school. Toshiro needed to buy an owl and badly. He was already behind sending Urahara an update. He walked over to a large store, looked up, and read: Eeylops Owl Emporium. This looked like a good place to get the owl he needed.

He walked in and sound of the owls and other animals assaulted his ears not to mention the smell. He took a moment to really look around. They were all sorts of different types of owls ranging in different sizes and colors. Toshiro really didn't know where to begin or what to look for. He just needed an owl that's all he knew. He started looking at cages going to each one and reading their tags. He also took notice that the place even sold cats and toads. Neither of which he wanted or needed. He looked up at one owl, a barn owl, which also seemed to be looking down at him. It was a rather pretty owl. He pulled the tag to look at it.

"You're 10 galleons?" he said, letting go of the tag.

"Oh, I see you're looking to Princess," a man said, from behind Toshiro. "That's what I like to call her. She has a bit of snobbish manner, hence the nickname. Of course if you want her you can call her whatever you want. I've got a nickname for every owl, toad, or cat here."

Toshiro tuned to the man behind him. The man was dressed in an apron with large thick gloves on. So it wasn't a permanent name? However, she did look like her nickname. So, why not? He shrugged, looking back up at the barn owl. He might as well. He couldn't spend all day just looking for an owl.

"Well, she is rather pretty," Toshrio stated, looking at her a bit more intently. "I'll take her."

"Oh, very good choice," the man said, walking over and picked up the cage. "She'll make a fine pet to take to Hogwarts. You are going to Hogwarts, correct?"

"I am," Toshiro, nodded following the man to the front of the store and up to the counter.

"This is a list of what you'll need for her and a little book for you to read over," the man said, handing Toshiro a small book and a piece of parchment.

Toshiro browsed over the list and prices of the items. He sighed. They were a necessary cost. He needed the bird badly. He pointed at the items he wanted and needed as the man went and got everything a put it on the counter. Toshiro paid and everything was bagged for him. Toshiro looked at his new owl again as it looked back at him.

"So, what are you going to call her?" the man asked, Toshiro carefully picked up the cage and the bagged items. "Careful, now. She's a bit heavy."

"I can handle her," Toshiro stated. "I'll call in her—Hime."

"Hime? What does that mean?" the man asked, scratching his head.

"In my native tongue it means, Princess," Toshrio gave the man a half smile. "Thank you, sir."

* * *

One thing Holly knew was that Jack needed to learn how to fly a broom. Grant it the boy could harness the wind to fly but he needed his staff in order to control the wind. That wasn't going to be possible in the coming months. She dragged the boy to a local broomstick shop. Jack looked a little out of his element here. He honestly didn't see the purpose of using a broom to fly. He also didn't know what to look for but Holly sure did as she started looking at all of them very meticulously.

"Why can't I just use yours or maybe even an old you might have?" Jack asked, nearly getting hit in the face with the bristles of a broom as Holly flipped one of the display brooms while examining it. "Hey, watch it with that thing!"

"First off I always donate my old brooms, second that means I only have one therefore you will need one," she said, setting the broom back down on the rack. "I want you to be as involved as possible. You need to blend in. I want you to try out for Quidditch at school. School brooms are always overly worn out and just not good for competing in such a fast paced sport."

"What is Quidditch?" Jack whispered in her ear.

"It's very similar to football," Holly said as Jack gave her an odd look. "What?"

"How? I'm not following…" Jack blinked, trying to understand. "Tackling people on brooms? How does that even work?"

"Tackling? OH! Sorry! No, no! Not that. Not American football," she laughed lightly, picking up another broom. "I should have said soccer. It's more like soccer. Well, it resembles it a great deal. It's very popular."

"Oh…" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "If you say so."

"I'll teach you more about it later," she said, examining the broom. "It's nice and straight. Not overly found of the bristles and a touch off balance."

She set it down and went to another. She went through about 6 of them before finally spotting one that she liked. She quickly showed it to Jack who really didn't know what to do with it. To him brooms should be for cleaning floors not zipping the skies around it.

"Comet 290. It's fast and should be right up your alley," she said, taking it back from him. "It's fairly new on the market. It'll make a good impression. We're getting it."

"What? I don't get a say in it?" Jack stated sarcastically, following her up to the checkout counter.

"No, you don't get a say in it," Holly sassed back, knocking him in the head slightly with it. "I'm the one that's buying it."

"And I'm to be riding it," Jack countered, crossing his arms as she set the display on the counter. "Just like that, huh?"

"It's a good broomstick, Jack. You'll like it. Trust me," she said, turning her attention to the clerk. "I'd like one of these please."

* * *

The deal was to meet back at the Leaky Cauldron when the hour was up. Toshiro waited downstairs at the bar, talking a little bit to Tom. His new owl was tucked away in his room. He'd write Urahara a reply tonight. He had no idea what Holly had in store for them. It was nearly 12 now. He ran a finger around the rim of his glass. He heard the door open in the back. He craned his neck a bit to finally see Holly and Jack walk in. He was surprised to see what Jack was holding his hands. A broom? Well, that's was interesting.

"Oh, good. You're already here," Holly said, walking to Toshiro. "Let's head on up to the room. We'll start from there."

Toshiro hopped down from the stool and followed Holly and Jack upstairs. Holly opened the door and everyone filed in. Jack looked down at his broom again not really too sure of it still. Holly walked over to a corner of the room and returned holding a large, heavy book. She set it down on the table with a thump.

"Well, here is another lesson, boys. Look at this," she said, pointing to the book and both boys looked down at it.

"It's a book," Jack drawled.

"It's an atlas," Toshiro specified.

"It's a portkey," Holly corrected. "Portkeys are a form of transportation. This 'atlas' well take us straight to my mansion. Even underage wizards can use it. Portkeys have a set destination. They can only take you to one place. This one has a timer on it. It will work in about 2 minutes and only remains open 1 minute. So please don't hesitate in touching it. Fair warning. You can get a bit queasy to your stomachs."

"Is there anything we should bring with us?" Toshiro asked, looking at the book.

"Just your wands. I'll supply whatever else you'll need at my place. Don't fret about it," she said, watching the old clock like a hawk. "It's just about time. You will feel an odd sort of tugging right behind your navel. That's normal. Now the landing will also be a bit rough so hold onto your broomstick, Jack. Also this is an illegal portkey so don't tell anyone about it."

Jack clinched the handle a bit harder at her words. He wasn't sure if he was ready for this or not. Toshiro looked like was a little uneasy about it as well. The moment the clock struck 5 after 12 she put her hand out over the book as did the boys.

"Together," she ordered as they all put their hands on the old leather cover.

* * *

In a strange rush they all landed hard on the ground. They slowly sat up, rubbing their sore areas. Jack and Toshiro both thought that there had to be an easier way to do this traveling thing. Their heads were spinning a good bit and the did feel a touch sick. Slowly they finally took a notice of their surroundings. That sat on dry patch of grey earth with only few brown tuffs of grass spotting the ground. They trees and bushes were a dark grey nearly black and looked skeletal. Finally their eyes fell on the mansion. Its outter walls were tall and cracked where old vines hung lifeless in the wind. Jack-o-lanterns line the walkway giving out a strange green glow. The rot iron gate was rusted and covered in spider webs.

"Well this is it," she said, getting up with the others and brushed off her clothes. "Home sweet home. Let's go in."

"She lives here?" Toshiro asked Jack, listening to the long squeak of the main gate opening on its own as they approached.

"Spirit of Halloween," Jack shrugged, flowing Holly through the gate. "Makes sense."

"Yeah, okay," Toshiro mumbled as the gate closed behind them.

"I'm half expecting Lurch to open the door," Jack whispered with a light chuckle.

"Who?" Toshiro questioned.

"Never mind," Jack replied.

They continued up the walkway towards the mansion. The walls of the mansion mirrored the front gate cracked and cover in lifeless vegetation. In every corner a spider web sat. Jack and Toshiro swore that the statues of the gargoyles and other assorting creatures were watching them intently. There was no tell what was inside. Toshiro looked up at on the windows and saw a pair of red eyes staring down at him.

"C'mon in," she said, opening the large intricately carved door.

There was a wash of relief when they looked inside. It looked nothing like what they were expecting. It looked like a normal warm inviting home. Grant it there were a few things that were still… Well, Halloween-ish but nothing compared to outside. This they could deal with. They walked into a large foyer and looked at the large staircase leading up to the higher levels. A large chandelier hung over head. It was a giant crystal Jack-o-lantern. That was pretty cool.

"Yep, this is my place," she said, closing the door. "Let me show you to the ballroom. Well, what use to be the ballroom. I now use for other things. This will be a good bit of practice for you both."

She led them down a couple of corridors to another large set of doors. With a flick of her wand they opened and the room lit up. Storage. Apparently the ballroom was used for storage. What a mess. It was just stuffed wall to wall and ceiling to floor with items. It obviously hadn't been used for anything else. What were they supposed to do in here?

"We're going to do some straighten up in the place. This will be your training area once it's cleared," She grinned. "Now pull out your wands, boys. I'm going to teach you your first spell. It's going to be a levitating spell. Wingardium Leviosa. It's all in the wrist. Watch. It's just swish and flick. Wingardium Leviosa!"

The boys watched as a large iron candelabra lifted off the ground and up towards the ceiling. She then brought it back down gently onto the dusty tile floor. She turned towards her guests as they just stood there staring.

"Easy enough. Try it. Let's see. Something light," she said, scanning the room. "After you get this, I'll teach the locomotion charm. Ah, those paper bats pick those up, Jack."

"Why is it always me?" he moaned, stepping up with his wand in hand. "What was that spell again?"

"Wingardium Leviosa," Holly repeated, evening doing the movement with her wand. "A wand is a conduit just like your staff. Now. Wingardium Leviosa."

"Wingardium Leviosa," he called out as the bats just twitched a bit. "That didn't work."

"It takes time to master. Once more," she ordered.

"Wingardium Leviosa," he said with a more feeling. The bats moved a little more but didn't go anywhere. "This feels stupid."

"You've got to learn it, Jack. If you can't even get this first year spell… Then we've got problems," she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Didn't it take time for you to master your ice abilities?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Same applies. You're learning, you don't know it yet. Now keep trying," she said, pointing at the paper bat. "I'll be happy if you just get one off the floor."

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Suddenly all 15 or so bats lifted off the ground and slowly started to float upwards. Jack and Holly quickly turned to see a rather smug looking Toshiro holding out his wand, slowly pointing it upwards.

"That was easy," Toshiro stated with a smirk.

"Huh… Show off," Jack grumbled, crossing his arms.

"That's unreal. You got it on your first try?" Holly gawked, looking wide-eyed at the boy.

"I'm not versed in wizarding spells but there is a set of spells that Shinigami practice. I happen to be very good with them," Toshiro said, lowering the bats back down to the floor. "I know how to focus my own energy better. That's all."

"I believe you're going to do very well in Hogwarts," Holly said, still trying to get over the fact that Toshiro did that so easily.

"Alright, you stupid bats, it's my turn. Wingardium Leviosa," Jack called out, doing the wand movements he had been shown. Nothing happened they just fluttered a bit. "Wingardium Leviosa! Oh, c'mon! Wingardum Leviosa! Wingardum Leviosa!"

"Focus, Jack. Think of it as your staff," Holly snapped, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"But I've never used my staff for anything like this before," he stated, lowering his wand.

"Good point. I'll tell you again a wand is a conduit you have to put into it," she sighed, stepping back. "Just feel it. Okay?"

"Wingardium Leviosa," Jack called out again. This time a couple of bats managed to get off the floor about 3 or feet before dropping back to the ground. "That was it? I couldn't even hold them up."

"It was better than before. You're getting it. Just keep at it," Holly said, starting to move thing about the place to make room. "I'll start clearing some space. You just keep practicing; you need to learn all this. Hitsugaya, give me a hand going through some of this stuff."

While Holly and Toshiro start going through boxes Jack focused on the paper bats. How hard could this really be? Toshiro got it on his first try. Maybe it was a fluke? No, the reaper did say that they have their own spells so maybe he really did just have more practice? Either way Jack was going to get this spell one way or another. Toshiro managed to get all the bats up at once. What if he managed to levitate something that was heavier than paper? Grant it he knew this wasn't a competition but he needed something to drive him. Maybe that large candelabra Holly levitated as an example? Yeah, that would be good. He focused on that and drew in a breath.

_Okay, Jack, you can do this. You know you can. If a reaper can do it, you can too. A wand is a conduit and I just need to put into it,_ Jack thought trying to build himself up. "Wingardium Leviosa."

The candelabra swayed a bit but didn't really do much. Okay, Jack wasn't going to take that for an answer. For crying out loud he faced off against the Nightmare King but he couldn't even make a simple—but heavy—candelabra even lift off the ground? Oh, no. He was going to make it happen one way or another. He raised his wand again.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Jack snapped as the candelabra lifted up about 4 inches, before slamming to the floor.

"What are you doing?" Holly asked, sitting on the floor and looked over Toshiro's head. "Stick with the paper. Heavier items require more control."

Jack sighed and dropped his shoulders. He thought by using his crook for so long that this would be easy but it wasn't. He had never used his staff for anything other making winter and making kids have fun. He knew he had magic in him but for some odd reason he just couldn't get it to come out. There was something missing but what?

"Ugh, this is too much work," Jack groaned, turning back to the bats. "Wingardium Leviosa! Crap! Wingardium Leviosa!"

"If you don't work at it, it won't pay off," Holly chanted behind him.

"There's just something missing. I don't know," Jack sighed, swaying back and forth. "I thought magic would be fun."

"It can be but it's also work," Holly stated. "Just keep practicing."

A moment later Toshiro got up and walked back over beside Jack. What was the young reaper doing? He looked up at Jack briefly before pulling out his wand again.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Toshiro chanted as bat lifted up off the floor about two feet. "Oi, I bet you can't get it higher than mine."

"Are you challenging me?" Jack asked raising an eyebrow.

"Could be…" Toshiro answered with a dry tone. "I bet you can't."

"Alright, challenge accepted," Jack smirked. "I bet I can get it clear to the ceiling!"

"Prove it," Toshiro sneered.

"Wingardium Leviosa! Oh, do it! Wingardium Leviosa," Jack chanted as one of the bats slowly lifted up and made its way level with Toshiro's. "Hey… Hey, I did it. Look! Look! I got it up!"

"Can you keep it up?" Toshiro asked, raising his bat higher. "You better catch up, slowpoke."

"Ha, I'm gaining on you! I'm going to pass your bat!" Jack said, raising his wand a little faster. _Don't lose focus! You can do this! Beat him up there!_

Jack and Toshiro remained near level with each other as their bats went up higher and higher towards the ceiling. Right as they got to top Jack just beat him by the pointed ears of the paper bat. He did it. Just barely but he did it. He managed to keep his bat up. Now could he bring it down with losing it? He slowly lowered his wand with Toshiro's bat right behind his. He had this, he totally had this. He felt like he had to beat Toshiro down as well but he didn't want to lose focus. Toshiro had already him passed easily. That wasn't going to do. Jack moved his wand a little faster to catch up to the other bat. But Toshiro's still landed first. Well, he tried.

"You finally did it," Holly said, giving the boy a few quick claps. "I knew you would. Very good!"

"Yeah, I finally got it. I didn't think I was ever going to get the bat up," Jack laughed, rubbing the back of head. "I don't know why I suddenly got it to work."

"I do," Toshiro said, putting his wand away. "You yourself said it. Something was missing and it just wasn't fun. You're the Guardian of Fun. That's what you are. You needed motivation and by challenging you I made it into a game therefore—"

"You made it fun for me…," Jack finished as the realization hit him.

"That's what powers you. You need it to be fun and not just boring drills," Toshiro pointed out, going back over to the box he was sorting. "Make up games when you practice. That's my solution."

"Wow, I didn't even think of that," Holly said, getting back to her feet. "So, it needs to be fun for you for you to learn it? I think we can manage that."

(A/N No more, me tired. Nearly 4 in morning must go to bed. Anyway, that's that chapter. It didn't quite turn out what I wanted it to be but it works. They should be going to Hogwarts in the next couple of chapters. Oh, by the way! I got to be in a student movie! It's up on Youtube right now! I'm so proud of myself! It's called "What is Murphy's Law." I have a small acting roll and I did the makeup and wardrobe. Yay, me! Put this at the of the youtube link or just got to my profile. /watch?v=JR8dYjpRcb0&list=FLVNGSXFbeITWo6qy2zIwX_Q&index=23

Millie M. Banshee


	6. Not All Fun and Games

Winterspell

Chapter 6

Not All Fun and Games

(A/N Sorry for the long wait. I'm currently working at a haunted house, I'm going to school, and there's a lot of home issues too. Writing has become hectic. I've been writing more scripts than I care to. Don't get me wrong I love writing scripts but… Ugh… Anyway, let's get to the story.)

**SOUNDS/sounds**

_Thoughts_

_**Telepathy**_

* * *

(Last Time)

"You finally did it," Holly said, giving the boy a couple quick claps. "I knew you would. Very good!"

"Yeah, I finally got it. I didn't think I was ever going to get the bat up," Jack laughed, rubbing the back of head. "I don't know why but I suddenly got it to work."

"I do," Toshiro said, putting his wand away. "You yourself said it. Something was missing and it just wasn't fun. You're the Guardian of Fun. That's what you are. You needed motivation and by challenging you I made it into a game therefore—"

"You made it fun for me…," Jack finished as the realization hit him.

"That's what powers you. You need it to be fun and not just boring drills," Toshiro pointed out, going back over to the box he was sorting. "Make up games when you practice. That's my solution."

"Wow, I didn't even think of that," Holly said, getting back to her feet. "So, it needs to be fun for you for you to learn it? I think we can manage that."

* * *

(Present Time)

Holly and Toshiro cringed as Jack fell through the limbs of a tree to the hard barren ground. The spirit of winter barely sat up when his broom came crashing back down on his head. Flying with a broom was more troublesome than they had thought. Everyone thought Jack would be a natural at this. In some aspects he was. He was fast and got good height. It was the steering of the broom that was the problem. He didn't quite have the same maneuverability that the wind gave him. Jack was learning that the hard way.

When Jack flew with the wind he could move his body however he needed to make super sharp turns. However, with a broom he didn't have that flexibility so his daredevil stunts weren't... Well… He usually ended up landing in a tree or on the ground. In some cases it just didn't end well.

"Jack, are you okay?" Holly asked, running up him with Toshiro behind her.

"No," Jack groaned, rubbing he head as he painfully sat up. "How do you ride that thing? Owww…"

"I don't do stupid things," she sighed. "Brooms can do high speed stunts but there is only so much a stiff object can do. You have to remember that. A broom can't bend with your body."

"Thank you, for that bit of knowledge," he grumbled out a bit sarcastically.

"Let's take a break for now," she said, helping the Guardian to his feet. "There is something I want to teach both of you. It's very advanced but it will help both of you in the long run."

"Advanced, huh?" Toshiro asked, reaching down and pick up Jack's broom.

"I thought of it this morning," she said, helping limping Jack back inside. "Sometimes it's hard to keep secrets in the wizarding world and you two are a couple of pretty big secrets."

"That's putting it mildly," Toshiro said, walking inside behind them and shut the door. "Where can I put this?"

"Put it by the door for now," Holly said, help Jack to a chair as Toshiro sat the broom by the door. "What all hurts?"

"Just about everything from head to foot," Jack said, leaning back in the chair.

"I might have a little something to help with that," Holly said, walking over large cabinet and opened it to reveal a bunch of different bottles full of potions. "Let's see. Something to ease away pain…"

"So this thing you wanted to teach us… What is it exactly?" Toshiro asked, walking over to collection of moving paintings. _These are still rather fascinating to watch._

"No, that's not it… Hm? Oh, yes," she said, putting the bottle down and look at another. "I want to teach you Occlumency. It's a way to shield your minds and help you keep your secrets. I fear, however, it might be a little too advanced for you, Jack. But I still want to give it a try. It will not be pleasant for either of you. Ah, here it is. This should help with the aches and pains."

She brought the bottle over to him. He looked at the dark liquid as she grabbed a glass and pulled out her wand. She quickly filled the glass with water and put the wand away. She took the bottle from him and added only a couple of small drops.

"This is very potent and so it must be diluted. Two drops to 8 ounces of fluid no more than that," she said, handing him the glass. "It's a bit of a numbing agent. Too much can cause full body numbness, to paralysis, or even death. Keep that in mind. Something tells me you're going to be needing this at school. Don't let anyone see you have it though."

"I won't," Jack said, looking at the murky water. "It looks nasty."

"And it tastes worst. Better to just get it over with," Holly said, pulling some dead leaves out of the boy's hair. "Well, go on, Jack. Hold your nose if you have to."

Jack looked at the moldy looking water, then at Holly, and back to the water. He could feel everything tighten from his mouth to his gut. This was not going to be pleasant. Jack took in a large breath and pinched his nose. He quickly brought the murky drink to his mouth and tried to down it as fast as he could. It was super bitter with a heavy sour bite. It took all Jack had not to gag as he downed the last of it. He quickly let go of his nose to drawn in a deep breath only to result in coughing.

"Taste like bile, doesn't it? Take some deep breaths," she hummed, rubbing Jack's back. "It's should start working shortly. You'll get a bit of that pins and needle feeling for a few minutes but it will clear. It's my own potion. I thought about once putting it out on the market but it would be used too much for other things. So I opted against it."

"The t-taste alone wouldn't make th-this sale," Jack choked out, rubbing his running nose and eyes.

"There are potions that taste worse than that," Holly stated and Jack cringed with a shiver. "Well, let's get started. I wish I thought of teach you this so much earlier. To the ballroom, boys."

Everyone started down the ballroom. Holly stopped to tell one of her small gargoyle servants to get some books on the subject of Occlumency. The ballroom was nearly cleared now giving them a lot more room. It was only a week now until the start of term. Holly had been really pushing them. Toshiro not too much as most of it he would learn in school. He would practice some spells to help keep Jack entertained to learn what he needed. Jack on the other hand, she had pushed to a point that even the games that they invented for him started to become drills. She was really running him ragged to make sure he knew enough to be convincing as a 5th year student.

A couple moments later the gargoyle walked in holding 5 books on the subject. Holly took them and started looking through them. She found some important notes and handed the books over for the boys to read. Jack was still a slow reader but he was learning.

"I'll give you a few minutes to go over that," Holly said, skimming a book as well. "It's very advanced so I am nervous to teach you this."

"Basically, you're going to be teaching us to put up mental wards?" Toshiro questioned as Holly nodded.

"Yes. It will be hard and I'm going to ask you to trust me while learning this. And I do mean trust me. You will get mad at me I'm sure of that, but you'll just have to put up with me," she sighed, pulling out her wand. "I will see things that you most likely would not like to relive or reveal to anyone. It will be taxing on you mentally and physically and it will be extremely nerve racking. I will be doing this one on one. I will invade your mind and you need to force me out. I want you to learn it as best you can. Just enough to get away if need be. If someone gets into your mind they will destroy you. Hitsugaya, out of the both of you, you most likely have the most at stake. I will start with you when you're ready."

Toshiro finished reading what was left in the book before stepping up. Jack took a seat on the sidelines. He wasn't sure how this was going to go between the witch and the reaper.

"Be forewarned, Hitsugaya, that I will be brutal when teaching you. Because those that want inside your mind will be just as brutal if not more," she stated, holding up her wand and out at the young reaper. "I will continue to assault you until you are at the point of near exhaustion. Do you understand why I'm using such a method?"

"It's so I can build my shields faster and stronger," Toshiro stated. "I've had similar drills when I was in training at the academy."

"Very well. Let's begin," she said, coolly, aiming her wand at Toshiro. "Legilimens!"

A wave of memories came forward in Toshiro's mind, ranging from good to bad. He noticed that Hyorinmaru wasn't aiding him, which in a way was good. Toshiro needed to learn it without his partner. Suddenly it got to a point where he was in the memory of when he watched Aizen run Momo through. Suddenly, Aizen morphed into Holly. A split second later Toshiro found himself on the floor breathing heavily, shaking a bit.

"Do you see what I can do? I really don't even have a malicious intent," Holly stated, crossing her arms. "Just that little bit really threw you off. You've got to do more. I didn't sense you knocking me back at all. Get up and let's continue.

Toshiro got back to his feet and faced her. She could alter his memory? What else could she do? This wasn't going to easy. There had to be something to knock her back. Maybe some form of meditative state? He needed to learn to force her back. She unfolded her arms and aimed at him again.

"Legilimens," she called out.

Again Toshiro was assaulted by all kinds of memories. He was brought back to the time before he was a shinigami. He walked down the dirt street as the people around him would stare at him. Suddenly they all started to laugh and everyone had Aizen's face. They were then closing on him. He hit the floor again gasping for air. He looked up at Holly who just raised an eyebrow at him. No malicious intent his ass. Toshiro quickly got his feet again. He glared at her viciously and she just snorted. He was indeed starting to get angry with her.

"Again! Legilimens!" Holly snapped.

Jack watched in a bit of horror as Toshiro struggled against Holly. At some point he was going to have to face her as well. There was not telling what kind of mental battle was going on between them. So far it looked like Holly was just dominating the young reaper. It was clear that Toshiro was starting to lose his nerve little by little with every attack she made on him. She wasn't letting up at all. She really wanted to drive that nail home. All Jack could do was nervously watch everything unfold before him.

After a couple of hours it came to appoint where Toshiro had pretty much met his limit. Holly looked a little tired as well. Toshiro sat on the ground trying to catch his breath. He was sweating badly as he sat on the cold stone floor.

"I think you've had enough," Holly said, looking down at the boy. "You've progressed a little but it won't take much to get into your head. I was expecting a bit more from you."

"Once more," Toshiro said, getting back up his feet.

"I said to the point of near exhaustion, not absolute exhaustion," Holly stated, crossing her arms. "I don't want you passing out on me. You've had enough for today."

"Just once more," Toshiro stressed. "I can do this."

Holly sighed and dropped her shoulders. She unfolded her arms again and took aim. She really didn't want to this but if the reaper wanted to push himself she would humor him just a little bit longer. The boy looked dead set on blocking her out. Hopefully he would get somewhere this time.

"Legilimens!" she recited.

Toshiro again was assaulted by waves of jumbled memories. He needed to block her out before she settled on one to attack him. He needed to concentrate on blocking her out. No wonder why Aizen had such a hold on with his illusions to begin with. Grant it was a type of hypnosis but he wandered if he knew how to do this before if it would have helped him. He needed to block her out and now. He forced as hard as he could against her but she was rather good at this. He just needed to block her. Suddenly everything stopped and he realized he was standing this time.

"You're finally getting there," she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I could have easily broken that but I think, for it's worth, that was your best attempt yet. Go take a rest."

Toshiro bowed to her slightly as made his way over to where Jack was sitting. Jack didn't not look like he was ready for this. In all honesty Toshiro hadn't been either. Jack was going to be in for it big time. Toshiro quickly took a seat on the floor.

"That bad?" Jack asked, nervously.

"It's worse than you think," Toshiro sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Jack, c'mon, it's your turn," Holly said, looking at the Guardian.

Jack swallowed a knot in his throat and got to his feet. He really wasn't ready for this. He walked over to her and faced her cautiously. Holly was obviously showing a little wear and tear as well. Jack took in a deep breath and she held out her wand. This was it.

"I will actually attack you. Keep that in mind," she stated and Jack nodded lightly. "Legilimens!"

Jack was hit with memories left and right of both good and bad. How did Toshiro put up with this for so long? This was already freaking him out. Suddenly he was brought back to a time when he was in Pitch's lair. He was looking at all the tooth fairies in their cages but none of them were moving or making a sound. Suddenly Pitch's laugher could be heard right over his shoulder.

Jack came to, collapsed on the floor, shaking badly. He knew that's not what happened but it seemed like a real memory. He slowly casted his blue eyes up at Holly, who was still holding her wand out at him.

"Huh… Get up and let's go again," she stated as Jack slowly got back to his feet.

"That was dirty," Jack snapped. "Why would you do that?"

"I told you from the start I was going to actually attack you," Holly said in a stern tone. "People are cruel, Jack. I did the same to Hitsugaya, progressively getting worse each time. You need to learn this. It's for your own protection. You need to be able to resist an attack. You are a Guardian and it's time to show me what you really are capable of."

Jack let out a hard breath as she aimed her wand again. He still wasn't ready for another attack by her. If this was some form of tough love there was no telling what she would do if ever got angry and used this on him.

"Legilimens!" she bit out.

Jack was once again assaulted with a montage of memories. He needed to push back against her somehow. Suddenly he was standing in front of Jamie and his friends. They all looked happy but suddenly they all looked angry. They started to snap and yell at Jack before turning their backs on him and walking away. Once again Jack came to on the floor, shaking. That wasn't right… Jamie and the others would never act that way towards him.

"You lack a resolve," Holly said, standing over the winter spirit. "You're letting it get to you too quickly. Toughen up a bit. I'm only going to get worse from here."

"Why are you showing me such things? Jamie and the other kids would never do that," Jack stated as Holly rolled her yes.

"You don't get it, do you? You need to fortify your mind against those that will use to get information from you and to torture you," Holly snapped. "Let me put to you this way. I watched what the Dark Lord did to people so I know how he operates. Once I was on the end of a Legilimency spell from a Death Eater. It's not pleasant and it will never be pleasant. It was unexpected and before I could really register what happened I was reliving a nightmare of my own. I managed to knock him out but I was already rattled by it. You need to be able to do the same. Now get up and let's continue. I can't make everything fun and games."

Jack got back to his feet as Holly took a couple of steps back. He needed to toughen up? Maybe she was right. Compared to how Toshiro acted he really did look weak. Toshiro was taking those mental attacks one right after the other. He hardly voiced any complaints but the boy's emotions did the talking from him. Jack needed to show her he can do this. They only had a week to really practice this. Hopefully, he could manage to block her just a bit.

"Now, Jack, let's do this," Holly said, pointing her wand at him. "Legilimens!"

* * *

By the time the trio returned to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner no one was in a good mood. Jack still had a lot of doubts in himself and didn't progress any. He was too much of an open book. Only recent did Jack have to grow up to a certain degree while Toshiro had pretty much grown up at too young of an age. This was going to be rather trying for everyone.

Toshiro had the experience that Jack just didn't have. Sure Jack faced down the King of Nightmares but Toshiro had more than that going for them. He's had been in more terrifying battles, he took a lot more abuse, and he the weight of being a leader on his shoulders. Toshiro was more mentally equipped than Jack. That is what Holly was afraid of. Jack didn't have that resolve to push back. So everything pretty much got to him.

They sat down at a table and looked at the menu. Toshiro was still adjusting to the cuisine a bit. Jack after a few days had pretty much gotten used to the food. It had just a long hard day for them all and they wanted to do was eat and go to bed.

They also hadn't been talking much to each other either. There was an odd awkward silence that some of the regular patrons that had seen them all week even noticed. Holly had seen their darker more privet moments and she had twisted them. For the rest of the week she would continue to it to them until they got the idea of how to shield their minds. It was going to be hard for the boys but in a way it was necessary evil.

Even when their food was served they hardly spoke. This was something they had to get over but right now just didn't feel right. There were so many emotions running high that an argument could happened if one word was miss spoken and this was not the place for such an argument. They finished their dinner and headed up to their rooms upstairs.

Holly and Jack stopped at their room while Toshiro continued on down to his room. He needed to talk to Mr. Spears or Ms. Sutcliff. He'd really prefer Mr. Spears. Toshiro walked into his room and saw Hime sliding side to side in her cage on her perch. She wanted out of that cramped place and he couldn't blame her. He walked over to the cage and opened the door. She flew out and landed on the bed's foot board.

"Sorry it took so long to get back," he said, lightly stroking one of her wings. "I'll have a letter for you shortly to deliver."

Toshiro sat down at the small desk and pulled out a piece of parchment, an ink well, and a quill. He wrote a small encrypted note as to William's instructions. He put the letter in an envelope and tried it down to Hime's foot. He then opened the window and out she went. It was only a couple of blocks down. Toshiro let out a long breath and turned to his bed. There was book he had been reading. It was the book that the school had assigned him for DADA. It had to have been a joke and one made in poor taste at that. He had read the book that Holly had picked out first and found that one to be far more practical.

He was almost done with this piece of trash as it was. He'd finish it while he waited on Hime's return. He opened it where he left off and started to read. Everything was on theory. There was no practical anything in there. How was to learn anything? Then again Holly said that the Ministry wanted to get their hands on Hogwarts. This is most likely why this book was so lousy.

Toshiro had just closed his book when he heard the flutter of wings. He looked up to see Hime on the window sill. He walked over to her took the letter. William had agreed to meet with him 12. That was 2 hours from now. Toshiro waved the bird off to her let go and do what she wanted for a while. Hime seemed more than grateful for this bit of freedom.

* * *

Holly had just walking out of the bathroom dressed in grey nightgown and her hair wrapped up in a towel. Jack just rested on his cot with his hands behind his head looking up at the ceiling. They still hadn't spoken much. She let out sigh as she sat down on her bed.

"You can take a bath now," she said dully as Jack just rolled over the other way. "You're going to take one in the morning?"

"Could you just not talk to me," Jack mumbled.

"I'm sorry, but what I did had to be done," Holly said, turning to look at her feet. "We'll have to do it again tomorrow and so on. It's just for y—"

"It's for my own good. I get it," he snapped, sitting up and started towards the bathroom.

"Just stop for a moment," she snapped, getting up to her feet and blocked him from the bathroom. "I understand that you're mad but I need to push you and Hitsugaya. I've been under the Legilimency charm several times. I took me many years to get where I am. I don't expect you or Hitsugaya to get it in one day. It doesn't work that way. I just wanted you to be aware of what could happen to you."

"But you didn't have to do what you did! You twisted everything I held dear into something else," Jack bit out, his pale face growing a little red in frustration. "Why would you do such a thing? Why?"

"I keep telling you that people are cruel. It's a fact of life that you just happened to have skipped over," Holly huffed out, crossing her arms. "I'm telling you that if they catch you and if they get inside of your head… This is not something any of us should take lightly. I'm doing this to protect you!"

"I know! I know! It's just that… I don't do will with people messing with my memories," Jack huffed out dropping his shoulders. "I only just recently got them back. When I… When I died I had no idea what or even who I really was. I had lost all my memories of when I was alive. For 300 years I had no idea who I was prior to being Jack Frost. It wasn't until Pitch attacked us and he handed me my baby teeth, which he stole of course, did I ever remember who I was. So my memories are more precious to me than you think."

There was a long pause between them the tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Holly had seen when Jack's memory of when he was sitting in the bottom of that icy pit holding that gold container. So she did know but she didn't know just how much it hurt him. It was a jerk move to tear into them like she did. She had always had all of the memories from her former life but for Jack they were new, something he wanted to keep safe. She felt guilty about it but it had to be done.

"I'm sorry… I really am sorry but I had to," she said as Jack just shook his head and started to walk around her to get to the bathroom door. "It's the only way I know how to do this. I meant no ill will by messing with them. But you are a wide open book, a diary of sorts, and I need to teach how to close it and put a lock on it. Be as mad as you want at me but you'll eventually understand why I did what I did."

"Just do me a favor and leave me alone," he snapped at her.

**SLAAAM!**

Holly jumped as the bathroom door slammed shut behind her. Jack was just clearly not in the mood and no one can reason with an angry person anyway. Holly set out a heavy sigh and undid the towel wrapped around hair. She set the damp towel down in a chair before finding a seat on her bed. That was how she learned Occlumency. It's not something one just learns and masters in a day. The fact was the more brutal the attacks the stronger the shields. She couldn't go easy on either of those boys. She rubbed the bridge of her nose. What was she to do with that boy? She then got up and looked out the window. She saw the waxing moon and leaned out the window a bit.

"Well, I'm trying my best, MiM. Jack, well, he's a stubborn one. He's thrown me plenty of curve balls," she said, looking up at the large glowing mass in the sky. "I'll keep trying of course but… I don't know what to do with him really. I'm only doing this really to pay back a debt to Sandy and because you can be quite annoying when you want something. Just give the strength to get through this."

She smiled a bit and closed her eyes feeling the night wind run through her damp hair. In just a few short weeks it will be fall. Usually she would already be making preparation for Halloween but watching over Jack and Toshiro ate up all of her time. A moment later she felt something brush against her cheek she ran her hand up her face and felt something gritty. She opened her eyes and looked down at her hand. He green eyes opened wide.

"Black sand?" she muttered. "Pitch…"

She quickly knocked off the black sand from her hand and face. She then closed the window and locked it. What did he want? Holly turned around and saw a message on the floor written the black sand. Her face turned a nice shade of red. That bastard! Can't he take a hint?

"How dare he…" she growled out as she raced over to the night stand and grabbed her wand. "Scourgify!"

The message vanished in a flash. Jack did not need to see that. She sat down on her bed in a huff. No matter what, Pitch always seemed to find some way to harass her. That little message was directed solely at her. It was getting close to Halloween as it was. Pitch wasn't stupid enough to let Jack know he was there. She thought about telling Jack but the boy needed to keep his focus on his studies not worry about the King of Nightmares. She just dimmed the flame in the kerosene lantern by her bed. She might as well as just stay in bed. Jack most likely wouldn't talk to her so why should she even bother?

She pulled the covers up and adjusted her pillows. It wasn't long after that Jack came out in his new PJ's. Buying Jack new clothes had been rather awkward but they found some that he did like and fit him well. Jack barely turned her way as he walked over to his cot. He pulled back the covers and jumped in. He blew out the lantern next to him before rolling over putting his back to her. She stared at him for a moment before turning the other way as well. He was still mad at her.

"I am sorry," she said just above a whisper.

There was no reply. She sighed again and pulled her pillows closer to her. There wasn't a sound between them for several minutes and Holly started to drift off to sleep.

"I'm sorry."

"Hmm?" Holly sleepily rolled over to the sound of Jack's voice.

"I shouldn't have blown up at you," he said, now facing her but still resting on his cot. "I just couldn't handle what you did to me today."

"You know I'll have to do it again, don't you?" she stated as Jack slowly nodded. "I can't be easy with either of you. It has to be done."

"I know… I just shouldn't have blown up at you," he muttered, folding up into a ball.

"Are we even?" she asked. "Are you going to be alright for tomorrow?"

"Yeah…" he nodded. "I-I'll be fine."

"Okay, just get some sleep," she said, closing her eyes.

(A/N Yeah, I'm going to end it there. I'm mean like that. As it I have to get up super early. So this it for now.)

Millie M. Banshee


End file.
